CE Requirements
Continuing Education (CE) Requirements
Each regulator specifies its own rules and regulations for CE. The information provided below is extracted from the regulator websites as an overview. A licensee should always verify key information directly with each regulator.
Life and A&S Licensees
Other financial service licensing
These four provinces have no CE requirement:
Life and A&S Licensees
British Columbia
CE requirements
All licensees are required to complete continuing education courses. Life and/or Accident and Sickness Insurance Agents are required to complete fifteen (15) hours of continuing education per licence period. One hour of instruction is equal to one hour of continuing education credit, subject to a one-hour minimum.
Licensees who were issued a licence between March 1 and May 31 are not required to complete continuing education during their first licence period.
Licensees must ensure they have a valid record of course completion; the Certificate provided by C’Life is a valid proof of course completion. Records to support continuing education must be kept for five license periods.
- A license year runs from June 1 to May 31 annually.
- All licensees are required to meet the continuing education requirements for each license year.
Carry-over
Life and accident and sickness licensees can carry forward up to fifteen (15) continuing education credits to the next licence period.
Repeated Courses
Licensees cannot complete the same course for continuing education credit within three licence periods. Exceptions will be made where Council can confirm the course content has changed substantially enough to warrant retaking the course.
Restrictions
Technical education directly relates to:
- life insurance products (for life agents only);
- A&S insurance products (for A&S agents only);
- financial planning, provided the education is geared to life insurance and not a non-insurance sector, such as securities or mutual funds (for life agents only)
- compliance with insurance legislation and requirements such Council’s Code of Conduct, Council Rules, the Insurance Act, privacy legislation and anti-terrorism/money laundering legislation;
- ethics; or
- E&O.
Contact
Insurance Council of British Columbia
Suite 300 – 1040 West Georgia Street
P.O. Box 7
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 4H1
Phone: 604-688-0321
Toll-free within BC: 1-877-688-0321
Alberta
CE requirements
- The curriculum must be directly related to:
- knowledge relevant to giving advice about any insurance product or services, or
- adjustment of claims, or
- knowledge, relevant to the operation of an insurance business
- Certificate holders will be asked to make a declaration on the renewal form stating that they have the required number of hours.
- Agents who apply for a certificate of authority (license) with 3 or less months remaining in the certificate term are not required to complete the CE requirement. If your first license was issued on April 1st, you will not be required to complete a CE requirement until you renew your certificate in the following year.
- Agents, brokers and adjusters will be required to maintain their continuing education certificates for three years after the expiry of the term in which they were earned, in case of audit by the AIC.
Deadline
- A “certificate term” means the period beginning on July 1 and ending on the next June 30.
- All certificate holders are required to have 15 hours of credits per certificate for the first reporting period
Carry-over
A maximum of 7.5 hours of credits can be carried forward from one certificate term to the next.
Repeated Courses
An agent is able to take the same course more than once anytime so long as it is not on the same day and use the credits towards their CE requirements.
Restrictions
A course will not be accredited if:
- it involves a meeting or conference call that deals with day to day operations of the business and/or company updates
- the course material concerns products or services governed by some other regulatory body and does not have a significant overlap into the Alberta insurance regulatory environment
- the Committee approved uniform certificate of completion is not used
- the course submission is retroactive, beyond 60 days of receipt by the Alberta Insurance Council office
- the course name includes ‘text’ or ‘exam’ within the title
- an instructor has less than twenty-four (24) months of experience relevant to the presentation
Contact
Alberta Insurance Council
Suite 600 Bell Tower,
10104 – 103 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0H8
Phone: 780-421-4148
Saskatchewan
CE Requirements
CE requirements apply to licensees who reside in Saskatchewan; and those licensees who do not reside in Saskatchewan and do not have a continuing education requirement in their resident jurisdiction.
One hour of instruction is equal to one hour of continuing education credit.
To receive credit for the purposes of CE, the licensee must successfully complete the course.
One hour of instruction is equal to one hour of continuing education credit.
To receive credit for the purposes of CE, the licensee must successfully complete the course.
Deadline
An annual reporting date is shown on the agent’s licence; proof of having met the continuing education requirements is required by that date.
Restrictions
- A maximum of 8 credit hours will be allowed in one calendar day.
- Courses less than one hour in duration do not qualify for credit.
- CE must take place in a structure dedicated to learning which can include but is not limited to: classroom, seminar, on-line and self-study.
- Courses, programs or meetings related to sales promotion, promotion, motivation or computer training do not qualify for credit hours.
Contact
Insurance Councils of Saskatchewan
310 – 2631 – 28th Avenue
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 6X3
Phone: 306-347-0862
Manitoba
CE Requirements
Continuing education for a Life and/or A & S licensee must be directly related to life and accident and sickness insurance products or services, or the operation of an insurance business.
Allowable CE content also includes:
- ethics;
- errors and omissions coverage; and
- compliance with insurance related legislation and regulatory requirements both Provincial (Manitoba) and Federal (e.g. Code of Conduct, the Insurance Act, Rules and Regulations, Privacy legislation, anti-terrorism or money laundering legislation, and replacement requirements).
Non-residents residing in jurisdictions that have continuing education requirements will be deemed to have met the requirement in Manitoba, providing they attach an original non-resident endorsement. Agents/Brokers residing in a jurisdiction where continuing education is not mandatory are required to comply with Manitoba’s continuing education requirements.
With the successful completion of the LLQP life or A&S provincial examination, you are exempt from the required 15 Continuing Education Credit Hours for that licensing period only (you must pass the provincial examination and obtain a license within the same license year). You are required to accumulate 15 Credit Hours for each licensing year thereafter.
Deadline
Period begins June 1 and ends May 31 annually.
Carry-over
See table above for carry over regulations.
Restrictions
Content excluded from allowable CE credits are programs based on sales production, promotion, motivation, computer training, and any education not related to products or activity for which the licence is held.
Contact
Insurance Council of Manitoba
466 – 167 Lombard Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 0T6
Phone: 204-988-6800
Ontario
CE Requirements
All life insurance agents are required to complete 30 hours of continuing education every two years.
The curriculum must be directly related to knowledge relevant to giving advice about financial products or services, or the operation of a financial services business. This includes programs that are structured for the specific purpose of education, but excludes activities such as programs and meetings primarily based on sales production, promotion and motivation.
If audited, an agent will be required to submit information on CE to FSCO. Agents should keep these receipts for up to four years in case they are requested by FSCO. CE receipts must include:
- the name of the course provider;
- date or dates when courses or seminars were taken;
- a description of each course or seminar taken (preferably from the course calendar or outline);
- qualifying hours; and
- the signature of an authorized representative of the course provider.
Ontario does not impose any further continuing education requirements on a non-resident agent who has met the continuing education requirements of his/her home jurisdiction. This does not apply to non-resident agents from jurisdictions that do not have continuing education requirements.
Deadline
CE requirements must be met every two-year cycle after licensing.
Carry-over
Excess credit hours cannot be carried over into the next license period.
Contact
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA)
5160 Yonge Street
Box 85
Toronto, Ontario, M2N 6L9
Phone: 416-250-7250
Toll free: 1-800-668-0128
Quebec
CE Requirements
Compulsory professional development applies to those who conduct business in the categories of:
- Group savings plan brokerage;
- Scholarship plan brokerage;
- Insurance of persons;
- Group insurance of persons.
Representatives must earn the following professional development units (PDUs):
- 10 PDUs in general subjects;
- 10 PDUs in compliance with standards, ethics and business conduct;
- 10 PDUs in topics specific to each discipline or registration category in which they are authorized to conduct business.
Every other reference period, or every 4 years, all members of the Chambre must obtain at least 3 Compliance PDUs by following a training activity that was built by or offered in partnership with the CSF. The 3 PDUs are counted as part of the amount that is usually requested of representatives.
A representative who obtains an authorization to conduct business from the Autorité des marchés financiers for the first time is exempt from accumulating PDUs for a period of one year. After this exemption, he must accumulate a number of PDUs calculated on the basis of the number of full months not elapsed during the reference period in effect.
Deadline
Mandatory professional development is based on two-year cycles that end on November 30 of an odd year. This date is the same for all representatives and does not take into account the certificate’s date of issue.
Carry-over
A representative can carry over up to 5 extra PDUs to the next reference period if the PDUs were accumulated in the last three months of a reference period, between September 1 and November 30 of an odd year.
Contact
www.chambresf.com/en/education/education-offers/
Chambre de la sécuritéé financière
300 Léo-Pariseau Street
Montreal, Quebec, H2X 4B8
Phone: 514-282-5777
Toll free: 1-800-361-9989
The following provinces have no requirements for life agents to complete continuing education after becoming licensed:
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Department of Finance
PO Box 187,
1723 Hollis St.,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 2N3
902-424-5528 or 902-424-7551
New Brunswick
Superintendent of Insurance Department of Justice – Insurance Branch
Kings Place
P.O. Box 6000
Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 5H1
(506) 453-2541
506-453-8548
Prince Edward Island
PEI Securities Office
Consumer, Corporate and Insurance Services Division
Department of Justice and Public Safety
95 Rochford Street
4th Floor, Shaw Building
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
902-368-4550
Newfoundland and Labrador
Department of Government Services
P.O. Box 8700
St. John’s, Newfoundland, A1B 4J6
709-729-2595
CANADIAN INVESTMENT REGULATORY ORGANIZATION (CIRO)
INVESTMENT DEALER (ID) SPONSORING FIRM
CE Requirements
- A CE participant may receive CE credit(s) for a compliance course with an exam, if the CE participant successfully passes the exam.
- A CE participant subject to the professional development requirement may receive CE credit(s) for a professional development course with an exam, if the CE participant successfully passes the exam.
- • ID CE Rules recognize a broad range of Compliance and Professional Development (PD) training topics. Individuals are allowed to use courses offered by other regulated platforms and organizations for CE credit if the course meets requirements of Rule 2653.
- • The same CE course cannot be repeated unless the course content has been substantially updated (with the exception of ethics courses). The CE course must be updated to contain new course content in order for a CE participant to receive CE credit for a repeated course.
- • Individuals who complete an approved ethics course in one CE program cycle, may also choose to complete the same course in another CE program cycle to count towards the Compliance requirement in each of the respective CE cycles.
Exemption
A continuing education participant is exempt from the professional development course requirement if he or she:
(i) is approved in the category of Registered Representative, Associate Portfolio Manager,
Portfolio Manager or Supervisor, and
(ii) has been continuously approved in a retail trading capacity since January 1, 1990, or earlier by either the Corporation, the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Montreal Exchange, or the TSX Venture Exchange including any of their predecessors.
Deadline
The continuing education program operates in two-year cycles. The beginning and end of each continuing education program cycle is the same for all continuing education participants: January 1 (year one) – December 31 (year two).
Carry Over
A CE participant cannot carry forward compliance course credits to satisfy CE requirements of a subsequent CE program cycle.
A CE participant may carry forward a maximum of 10 hours of a single professional development course of at least 20
hours and completed in the last six months of the current continuing education program
cycle to satisfy a portion of his or her professional development course requirement in the
following continuing education program cycle.
Repeated Courses
The same CE course cannot be repeated unless the course content has been substantially updated (with the exception of ethics courses). The CE course must be updated to contain new course content in order for a CE participant to receive CE credit for a repeated course.
Individuals who complete an approved ethics course in one CE program cycle, may also choose to complete the same course in another CE program cycle to count towards the Compliance requirement in each of the respective CE cycles.
Penalties
On the last business day of the first month of a continuing education program cycle, the
Corporation will automatically suspend the approval of the continuing education participant if:
(i) a continuing education participant fails to complete the continuing education
requirements for the previous continuing education program cycle within the prescribed
cycle, or
(ii) the sponsoring Dealer Member fails to update the continuing education reporting system
and notify the Corporation as required by clause 2717(1)(vii).
Additional Resources
https://www.ciro.ca
investmentdealerce@ciro.ca
Contact
Toll-free (Canada/US) 1-877-442-4322
Joel has been a registered representative with CIRO (previously IIROC) since 2017. He works exclusively with retail clients and has a compliance course and professional development course CE requirement.
Joel buys the C’Life 30 Credit ID Cycle Roster. This Package satisfies his ID CE requirements because:
– He earns 10 Compliance credits;
– He earns 20 Professional Development credits.
On conclusion of his courses, he will have Certificates proving completion of his requirements for 2025.
Joel plans to hone his ethics knowledge by also signing up for Ethics and the Investment Industry, a 7-credit C’Life course. Although he has no requirement to do so, he wants to commit to studying this course at least every two years to explore how he can meet ethical objectives in his profession.
CFP Professionals and QAFP Professionals:
FP Canada Requirements as of 2025
FP Canada requires CE credits in the categories of Professional Responsibility and Financial Planning. The annual cycle runs from January 1 to December 31. Therefore, the deadline is December 31 of each year.
CFP Professionals
25 annual credits required:
• 2 credits minimum in the Professional Responsibility (PR) category; no maximum. If more than 2 credits are earned in a year, the extra credits may be claimed under the Financial Planning category.
- CE in this category must be accredited by FP Canada.
- No rollover of PR credits to the next year.
• 12 credits minimum in the Financial Planning category; no maximum.
- CE in this category must be accredited by FP Canada.
- Up to 23 credits can rollover to the next calendar year.
• No minimum requirement in the General CE category. Maximum credits to be earned are 11 with 5 credits in Giving Back (pro bono contribution to diversify or contribute to financial knowledge among the general public); balance in practice management and product knowledge.
- No rollover of PR credits to the next year.
Rebecca, a CFP Professional, buys the C’Life 25 Credit FP-Canada Approved Package for CFP Certificants Option A.This Package satisfies her FP Canada requirements because:
– The courses have been pre-approved by FP Canada;
– She earns 2 Professional Responsibility credits from the course, The Client’s Best Interest: Insight and Ideas for Action;
– She earns 23 Financial Planning credits from the other four courses in the Package.On conclusion of her courses, she will have Certificates proving completion of her requirements for 2025.
QAFP Professionals
12 annual credits required:
• 1 credit minimum in the Professional Responsibility (PR) category; no maximum. If more than 1 credit is earned in a year, the extra credit(s) may be claimed under the Financial Planning category.
- CE in this category must be accredited by FP Canada.
- No rollover of PR credits to the next year.
• 7 credits minimum in the Financial Planning category; no maximum.
- CE in this category must be accredited by FP Canada.
- Up to 11 credits can rollover to the next calendar year.
• No minimum requirement in the General CE category. Maximum credits to be earned are 4. This category includes Giving Back (pro bono contribution to diversify or contribute to financial knowledge among the general public), practice management, and product knowledge.
- No rollover of PR credits to the next year.
Neil, completing his studies in the QAFP program, buys the 12 Credit QAFP Package from C’Life for this year’s QAFP continuing education requirements.This Package satisfies his FP Canada requirements because:
– The courses have been pre-approved by FP Canada;
– He earns 2 Professional Responsibility credits from the course, Recognizing and Managing Financial Conflicts of Interest;
– He earns 10 Financial Planning credits from the other two courses in the Package.Since he has earned one more credit than the minimum in the Professional Responsibility category, he can apply it to the Financial Planning category if he chooses. He cannot roll it over to next year. However, he has all the Financial Planning credits he needs from the Package, so he just chalks up the extra credit to extra learning in his profession.
On conclusion of his courses, he will have Certificates proving completion of his requirements for 2025.
THE INSTITUTE (CLU, CHS, PFA DESIGNATIONS)
CE Requirements
The Institute accredits continuing education programs on behalf of Advocis. The annual deadline is December 31.
Institute-accredited CE is any continuing education that has been formally reviewed by and has successfully met the requirements of The Institute’s CE Accreditation Services. All material submitted to The Institute’s CE Accreditation Services is evaluated against the The Institute CE Accreditation Guidelines.
Institute-approved CE are courses, presentations and seminars offered by third-party providers that align with The Institute’s standards as published in the Practice Guidelines for Financial Advisors and Planners, but have not been submitted to The Institute and evaluated against its Practice Guidelines. Attendees may be required to demonstrate that CE claimed as “Institute-approved” meets The Institute’s standard and should therefore retain copies of the course description and record of completion in the event of an audit.
Institute-accredited CE offers near universal assurance that CE will be accepted by many organizations, regulators and licensing bodies in the financial services industry including, but not restricted to, life insurance regulators.
Deadline
CE credits are accumulated on an annual basis. The deadline is December 31.
Carry Over
CLU:
- Up to 15 (fifteen) Institute-accredited CE credits may be carried-over from one renewal cycle to the next.
- See additional details at www.iafe.ca
CHS:
- Carry-over of up to 5 CE credits from one renewal cycle to the next.
- See additional details at www.iafe.ca
PFA:
- Carry-over of up to 10 CE credits (or equivalent) from one renewal cycle to the next.
- See additional details at www.iafe.ca
Repeated Courses
Repeated courses are accepted so long as they are taken in different cycles.
Penalties
CE Exemptions are available from the Institute/
CLU: A deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to that year’s requirement for CE credits.
Further Resources
https://iafe.ca/ce-accreditation/ce-accreditation-policies/
Contact
The Institute for Advanced Financial Education
10 Lower Spadina Ave., Suite 600
Toronto, ON
M5V 2Z2
https://www.iafe.ca
Phone: 416-444-5251 Toll Free: 1-877-773-6765
Mark is a CLU who works in a small firm comprising life agents and CFPs. He acquired his CLU designation five years ago and has started looking at satisfying his CE requirements in May. He selects the C’Life 30 credit CLU Package because he receives the Ethics credits he needs and he sees he will also acquire some valuable learning from the courses in the package. He completes all his courses in August.
Later in the year, Mark checks the C’Life catalogue and sees a new Institute-accredited course that he thinks is highly relevant to his practice: it is 5 credits, and he begins reading the course immediately.
Mark is going to have too many credits for his CE requirements in the year. He has two choices: he can simply ignore that he is over the top or he can carry-forward the extra 5 credits to the next year. If so, his CE credit requirement for that year is reduced to 25 credits. Mark decides to chalk up the extra 5 credits to time well spent on his professional development and chooses to complete the full 30-credit requirement in the second year.
CANADIAN INVESTMENT REGULATORY ORGANIZATION (CIRO)
MUTUAL FUND DEALERS (MFD)
CE Requirements
The CE Program consists of the following components: (i) business conduct; (ii) professional development; and (iii) Mutual Fund
Dealer compliance. Every Approved Person who is registered as a dealing representative under Canadian securities legislation must complete 8 Business Conduct Credits, 20 Professional Development Credits and 2 Compliance Credits each cycle.
For each cycle where a Participant is required to obtain at least 8 Business Conduct Credits, a minimum of 1 and maximum of 2 credits must be content relating to ethics related content refers to content that examines ethical principles and moral
or ethical problems that may arise in performing duties on behalf of a Member and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations.
Compliance content is education material relating to the conduct of Members and Participants that has been specifically designated by the MFD. Compliance content will include areas relating, but not limited, to, compliance examination
findings, Compliance and Enforcement priorities, and proposed Rule changes.
Members and Participants must use CERTS to comply with their reporting obligations. CERTS (the CE reporting and tracking system) is the online system established for the purpose of administering the CE program.
The MFD CE Regime permits accreditation of courses by the MFD, a Member or authorized third parties.
Dealing Representatives, Chief Compliance Officers, Ultimate Designated Persons, and Branch Managers
Deadline
The continuing education program operates in two-year cycles. The beginning and end of each continuing education program cycle is the same for all continuing education participants: December 1 (start of cycle), January 1-December 31 (full year), January 1- November 30 (odd-numbered years, i.e. 2025, 2027, 2029 etc).
Contact
mutualfunddealerce@ciro.ca
Toll-free (Canada/US) 1-877-442-4322
Jasmeen is a rep with a large financial services company selling mutual funds to clients and servicing their accounts. She has been licensed for four years.
This cycle she selected the C’Life Total MFD Package, which provides her with all her MFD credits in both categories of Professional Development and Business Conduct. She still must earn 2 Compliance credits directly from CIRO. She must have all credits completed by the November 30 deadline in year two of the cycle.
She started her studies late December and continued them during the following year at times when she was less busy. Jasmeen completed 15 credits by May 31 to use the credits for her BC life license renewal. She then completed her courses in early September, including her CIRO Compliance course, with lots of time remaining for her MFD deadline.
Jasmeen appreciates the convenience of this Package which also gives her more than enough credits for her CFP requirements this second year.
Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO)
The continuing education program of 8 hours every year between October 1st and September 30th will begin the first October following registration. Individuals are only exempted for the remainder of the license year in which they were registered For example:
- Broker A was registered on November 1, 2017
- Broker B was registered on April 30, 2018
- Neither Broker A, nor Broker B will be required to have accumulated any continuing education credits by September 30, 2018
- Broker A and B must begin taking the continuing education seminars/courses on October 1, 2018 for the 2018/2019 licence term
Course Repeats
Repeat sessions can be counted towards the continuing education requirements again after a minimum of three (3) years have passed since the original session.
Contact
Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO)
401 Bay Street
Suite 1200, P.O. Box 45
Toronto, ON M5H 2Y4
Toll Free: 1-800-265-3097
Tel: (416) 365-1900
Fax: (416) 365-7664