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
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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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
IIROC Registered Persons
CE Requirements
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- 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.
- IIROC 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.
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. Cycle 8 finishes December 31, 2021.
Members firms are required to report completions to IIROC within 10 days after the end of a CE cycle through IIROC’s CE Reporting System.
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 completed in the last six months of the current CE program cycle to satisfy a portion of their professional development course requirement in the following CE 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
If an IIROC member firm registered person does not complete the required courses by December 31 of the second year of a CE cycle, their firm will be assessed a one-time $2500 fine.
They will be automatically suspended until they have completed the required courses; therefore, it is important to complete all CE requirements on time.
Additional Resources
https://www.iiroc.ca/industry/rulebook/Pages/continuing-education-rules.aspx
http://cecap.ca/cy7/en/all/requirements.php
http://cecap.ca/cy7/en/all/search.php
https://www.iiroc.ca/industry/continuingeducationmember/Pages/Course-Guidelines-CE-FAQ.aspx#1
https://www.iiroc.ca/documents/2019/85c5dd50-761b-434c-a484-fa4aa76c0df1_en.pdf
Contact
CECAP is an accrediting organization for IIROC continuing education requirements.
CECAP Centre
702 Burnhamthorpe Rd. East, Suite 1
Mississauga, ON
L4Y 2X3
CFP Certificants and FPSC Level 1 Certificants/QAFPs (FP Canada Members)
(formerly FPSC: Financial Planning Standards Council)
FP Canada-approved CE activities may be found through the FP Canada-Approved Continuing Education Search Tool.
CE activities that are not FP Canada-approved may also meet FP Canada’s requirements, but an individual must self-assess these activities for fit within the five CE Credit Categories. The content of the activity must be related to the categories of Financial Planning, Professional Responsibility, Practice Management, Product Knowledge or Giving Back.
One hour of qualifying activity is equivalent to one CE credit.
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Deadline
CE credits are accumulated on a calendar year basis (January 1 to December 31).
Carry Over
CFP Certificants:
- only courses approved for Financial Planning credits may be carried over (see CE Credit Categories)
- A maximum allowance of 25 Financial Planning credits are permitted to be carried over to the next calendar year.
FPSC Level 1® Certificants/QAFPs:
- only courses approved for Financial Planning credits may be carried over (see CE Credit Categories)
- A maximum allowance of 12 Financial Planning credits are permitted to be carried over to the next calendar year.
Repeated Courses
Repeated courses are accepted so long as they are taken in different annual cycles.
Penalties
A percentage of CFP Certificants and FPSC Level 1 Certificants/QAFPs are selected randomly for CE audit each year.
Individuals who are selected for audit will be requested to submit supporting documentation for their CE credits taken in the previous calendar year
FP Canada Certificants who fail to comply with the CE requirements or CE audit requirements within the stipulated period may be subject to disciplinary action by FP Canada.
Misstated or fraudulent reporting of CE credits will be reported to the FP Canada Standards and Enforcement department as a violation of the FP Canada Standards Council Standards of Professional Responsibility.
Additional Resources
https://fpcanada.ca/planners/continuing-education#CECC
https://fpcanada.ca/planners/continuing-education/meeting-your-continuing-education-requirements
Contact
FP Canada
902-375 University Ave.
Toronto, ON
M5G 2J5
Phone: 416-593-8587 Toll Free: 1-800-305-9886
info@fpcanada.ca
CLUs & CHS (Advocis Members)
CE Requirements
In The Institute’s view, continuing Education (CE) is education that:
- is aligned with the Practice Guidelines for Financial Advisors and Planners; and
- is learning, education or training that enhances an advisor’s ability to perform his or her job competently and ethically.
The Institute believes that basic licensing requirements (e.g., mutual fund license, provincial insurance license, CSC) represent foundational learning rather than continuing education. All material submitted to The Institute’s CE Accreditation Services is evaluated against the Practice Guidelines for Financial Advisors and Planners.
Institute-accredited CE:
- offers near universal assurance that CE will be accepted by many organizations, regulators and licensing bodies in the financial services industry;
- has programs that are objective and substance-based; and
- enhances professionalism and helps advisors remain compliant in an ever-changing industry.
General Professional Development CE credits must be industry-related (courses, seminars, etc.), and may be subject to The Institute’s review.
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Deadline
CE credits are accumulated over an annual basis.
Carry Over
CLU: Carry-over of CE credits for CLU Designation-holders. A maximum carry-over of up to 15 CE credits (or equivalent) from one renewal cycle to the next. Professional Development CE is not eligible for carry-over.
CHS: Carry-over of up to 5 CE credits from one renewal cycle to the next. Only Institute-accredited CE credits (or equivalent) can be carried over to the next renewal cycle.
Repeated Courses
Repeated courses are accepted so long as they are taken in different cycles.
Penalties
CLU: Any deficiency in one year must be made up by the end of the next calendar year, in addition to the full year’s necessary requirement of CE credits.
Further Resources
https://www.iafe.ca/pdf/PracticeGuidelines.pdf
https://www.iafe.ca/Continuing-Ed-FAQ.aspx
https://secure3.advocis.ca/secureform/ceassess/ceSearch.aspx
Contact
The Institute is the accrediting organization for Advocis continuing education requirements.
The Institute for Advanced Financial Education
10 Lower Spadina Ave., Suite 700
Toronto, ON
M5V 2Z2
https://www.iafe.ca/index.aspx
Phone: 416-444-5251 Toll Free: 1-800-563-5822
Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA)
CE Requirements (proposed as of 07/2019)
The Proposed MFDA Regime permits accreditation by the MFDA, a Member or authorized third parties.
CE cycle to be a prescribed 24-month period.
Dealing Representatives, Chief Compliance Officers, Ultimate Designated Persons, and Branch Managers
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Additional Resources
http://mfda.ca/wp-content/uploads/CSA_Publication_Notice.pdf
Contact
Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (MFDA)
121 King Street West, Suite 1000
Toronto, ON
M5H 3T9
https://www.mfda.ca
Phone: 416-361-6332 Toll Free:1-888-466-6332
Email: mfda@mfda.ca
Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO)
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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