Effective December 1, 2021, the first 2-year cycle of mandatory MFDA Continuing Education requirements comes into effect as prescribed under MFDA Rule 1.2.6 and MFDA Policy No. 9 Continuing Education (“CE”) Requirements. These requirements establish minimum standards for Approved Persons of MFDA Members to keep their industry knowledge current and maintain a high standard of professionalism.

Most HCI Advisors are licensed for insurance, registered as dealing representatives in Quebec and/or hold industry designations and are familiar with managing their CE requirements. While this new requirement may appear to be overwhelming, you will be pleased to learn that many of the CE credits that qualify for insurance, CSF PDUs or designations such as CFP, CLU, etc. will also qualify for MFDA CE credits. Except for the 2 MFDA Compliance Credits as described below, we expect HUB’s ongoing educational and compliance training events should address the majority of your MFDA CE Credit requirements.

MFDA CE CREDIT REQUIREMENTS (2 Year Cycle effective December 1, 2021)

8- Business Conduct Credits; 20-Professional Development Credits; 2-MFDA Compliance Credits

Click here to view the types of CE Credits and their requirements.

CE CREDIT REPORTING, MFDA CERTS SYSTEM, EVIDENCE OF COMPLETION

Like other CE reporting requirements for life insurance and designations, advisors are responsible for seeking out their own CE activities and ensuring that their CE attendance is reported on the MFDA CE Reporting and Tracking System (“CERTS”).

MFDA CERTS SYSTEM

HCI Advisors will be individually set-up on the CERTS System by HUB Capital and can expect to receive an email notification once this has been done. The notification will be from [email protected] and will inform the advisor that they have been set up on CERTS and need to log into the system. Notifications will be sent to the advisor’s hubcapital.ca email address, not their personal email, and will include the subject line “CERTS Account Login information”.

ACCREDITATION

Acceptable Accreditation for MFDA qualified CE credits can be completed by:

HUB Capital
IIROC
CSF (Chambre de la sécurité financière)
Third Party Accreditor recognized by the MFDA (FP Canada is currently recognized by the MFDA)

Approved CE providers may have the ability to enter attendance records directly into CERTS for Participants who attend the Provider’s recognized CE activities. Therefore, when selecting CE activity, you should understand whether the Provider will be reporting their attendance into CERTS or not and you should periodically access your CERTS account to determine if all the CE activities have been recorded.

REQUIREMENT TO MEET MFDA CE CREDIT

HUB Capital advisors are required by MFDA Rules to meet their annual CE requirements to maintain their registration in good standing.

REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE MFDA/AMF INFORMATION NOTICE or NOTICE OF NON-COMPLIANCE

HCI Advisors are required to immediately forward copies of any Information Notice or Notice of Non-compliance to their Regional Compliance Officer and provide a plan to take immediate action to obtain the required CE credits. Where HCI has been notified of non-compliance by the MFDA it has 15 days to provide an acceptable plan for each deficient advisor. The MFDA will provide notification indicating the Advisor is not to act as an Approved Person of any Member until such time as the MFDA has determined that the prescribed credit requirements have been met. Upon receipt of such notification, HCI will suspend the advisor, including all compensation (commissions, fees and trailers). HCI advisors are responsible for any fines imposed by the MFDA for non-compliance. Under Policy No. 9, the MFDA may impose a fine of $2,500 for each occurrence of non-compliance.

Your key responsibilities are to take accredited CE activities and to monitor your progress towards compliance with the CE program to ensure you meet the requirements of the MFDA CE Program.

You will be receiving an email from the MFDA with your CERTS ID in the coming days. Please reach out to your Regional Compliance Officer if you have any questions or need assistance with accessing the CERTS system.

Cheryl Hamilton
Vice President Risk Management and Chief Compliance Officer