FPSB | Financial Planning Standards Board

FPSB | Financial Planning Standards Board

Guidelines for enrolling in FAST TRACK PATHWAY

Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. recognizes the need for an accelerated pathway to test the competency of certain professionals in financial services who have specified qualifications along with relevant experience. Such individuals, upon verification of their credentials, shall be exempted from writing three component level Specialist exams. They shall be inducted in the FPSB® Integrated Financial Planning course, which consist of two-stages of evaluation i.e. Financial Plan Assessment and CFP® Exam. This tests the all-round financial planning knowledge, skills and abilities expected of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals.

To be eligible to undertake the course through Fast Track Pathway the candidates should have:

Approved Qualifications/Professional Certifications:

  1. Chartered Financial Analyst, from CFA Institute (USA)
  2. Certified Public Accountant, from AICPA (USA), CMA, ACCA
  3. Chartered Accountant, from ICAI, CA(Inter) with 3-year Articleship+B.Com
  4. Fellow Member of Insurance Institute of India (Life/General)
  5. CAIIB + Graduation in any discipline
  6. Postgraduate degree in Economics, Commerce, Finance/Financial Planning from a UGC approved University
  7. MBA (all streams) and PGDM (all streams) from an AICTE approved institution/Ministry of Education approved institution/such other Indian or Foreign institution or business school

Documents: The documents in support of the above will be certificates/degrees/ marksheets.

Relevant Experience:

At least three years of prior work experience at the time of submission of documents will be considered in case of employees of a:

  • Any bank, non-banking Finance Company (NBFC)
  • mutual fund asset management
  • insurance company
  • securities company
  • portfolio manager
  • brokerage
  • Registered Investment Adviser (in the capacity ’persons associated with investment advice’)
  • Treasury department of a company registered with the RoC
  • Academic institution or FPSB’s Authorized Education Provider# 

Such experience shall be in one of the following broad job activities:

  • funds management
  • investment advice
  • accounting/fund accounting/auditing
  • corporate finance
  • customer relationship/investor service
  • lecturing in Academic Institutions on Economics/Commerce/Finance or teaching/training on FPSB’s CFP certification curriculum based on Financial Planning Education Framework#

Documents: The experience shall be considered under due attestation from the HR of the institution, corporate, RIA or the authorized person of academic institution/FPSB’s Authorized Education Provider. If the experience of three years is with more than one company, the same will be supported by appointment letters/relieving letters to account for the total relevant experience.

#The experience as an Academic will be exclusive for three years and shall not be combined with corporate experience.

  • Self-employed individuals:

At least three years of prior work experience shall be considered in the field of financial intermediation/distribution/advice by self-employed professionals in the capacity of:

  • Individual, proprietary firm
  • Partnership firm, LLP

Out of the abovesaid three years’ prior work experience, two years’ experience is acceptable in any one of the following broad components of financial planning. For the remaining period of one year (or at least one year in the entire experience), the applicant should have experience in “two or more” of the following components. 

  • Personal Financial Management; Cash flow management; Budgeting, etc.
  • Investment Planning; Asset management; Portfolio management, etc 
  • Risk Management; Insurance Planning
  • Tax Optimization – individuals, firms and corporate
  • Retirement Planning – solutions for individuals and employees
  • Estate Planning; Wealth Transfer – for individuals and in Family office setup  

Documents: The relevant experience documents by the self-employed shall be the incorporation documents showing date of formation of firm, business activity, etc., and/or registration details as ARN, IRDA license, Retirement Adviser certificate from appropriate Regulator/s or agencies. The commission statements received from product companies (MF/Insurance) and/or IT returns to support the continuation of activity in the relevant period (of the said experience) may as well be submitted.

How to apply?

Applicants, on being satisfied that they meet the education and experience criteria above, shall fill up a form in FPSB’s portal MyFPSBLearning, shall submit scanned copies of relevant documents and shall pay the document verification fee. Upon verification and subsequent approval of the criteria, FPSB shall authorize the candidate to register (through an Authorized Education Provider or self-study) by paying a consolidated registration fee and the courseware fee.

FPSB reserves the right to approve the documents toward qualification and experience. The process of document verification may take up to 20 working days. Applicants whose documents are not approved as satisfactory may have the option of registering in the Regular Pathway. 

Evaluation Process and Maximum Duration for completing the course:

The registered candidates shall prepare a financial plan on a given Case Study in an Assessment Cycle. On successful assessment of their submitted financial plan, they shall advance to the stage of writing the CFP® Exam.

The Assessment Cycle starts on or around the 15th of every alternative month (say on 15 Jul, 15 Sep, 15 Nov, …) with the posting of a case study in the eligible candidate’s portal account.  Candidate shall construct a financial plan in roughly the next 30 days (say by 16 Aug, 17 Oct, 15 Dec, …). The plans are assessed by experienced CFP practitioners over the next one month and the results of assessment are notified by the end of that subsequent month (say by 30 Sep, 30 Nov, 31 Jan, ……). Candidates who pass Financial Plan Assessment stage are then eligible to enroll in the immediate Exam Registration Window (between 1-5 Oct, 1-5 Dec, 1-5 Feb, …) and appear in the CFP® Exam that takes place later in the same month on a Monday/Wednesday between dates 19th and 25th of the same month (say on 19 Oct, 19 Dec, 20 Feb, …)

Candidates shall be required to complete the Global Ethics course in their portal before taking the CFP® Exam. After passing the CFP® Exam, they shall also complete CFP Professional Ethics Declaration and pay an initial certification fee to become certified as CFP professionals.  

A candidate in the Fast Track Pathway shall be eligible to complete the above within a maximum period of three years, with annual renewals from the date of initial registration. However, as can be seen from the above Cycle progression, the minimum period needed shall be just over four months.  

Fee Structure

The complete fee structure of the Fast Track Pathway to attain CFP Certification as applicable with effect from 1st July 2023 is given in the Annexure.

Eligibility of accelerated pathway for certain individuals

FPSB offers this accelerated route to re-certify or attain initial CFP certification through evaluation in the FPSB® Integrated Financial Planning course for the following individuals:

  1. Past CFP professionals (lapsed certification beyond 5 years from application date)
  2. SEBI Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) with active license
  3. CFP professionals in good standing with one of the Affiliate bodies of FPSB Ltd.
  4. Past candidates who had passed CFP exam more than 5 years before application date
  5. Already registered Regular Pathway candidates who deem themselves eligible as per laid down criteria for Fast Track Pathway

Individuals in (1) to (4) above can submit their details in the Form Preview stating relevant credentials and documents in support thereof. As their credentials are deemed pre-verified by FPSB/FPSB Affiliate/SEBI, on scrutiny and approval they would straightaway register by paying a bundled price (please see Annexure).

Individuals in (4) shall be required to submit their documents of qualification and experience up to a period of 5 years after they pass the CFP® Exam. The minimum qualification is graduate in any discipline along with at least three years relevant experience, considered for CFP certification.

Individuals in (5) above shall be required to submit their documents in support of qualification and experience criteria and shall pay document verification fee. If approved, their registration in the Regular Pathway shall be carried forward with original validity date to the Fast Track Pathway. They shall only pay full course material fee (please see Annexure).  

Note : Candidates who obtain CFP certification through the Fast Track Pathway must, in addition to passing the CFP Exam also pass all three Specialist Exams in order to use CFP certification as a basis for obtaining/renewing SEBI’s Investment Adviser registration, or else pass the NISM Investment Adviser Exam/other NISM-accredited Investment advisor exam for RIA purposes.

For any further clarification on the above, please contact us at: [email protected]

Annexure

The following is the complete fee structure of the Fast Track Pathway to CFP Certification:  

(Fee applicable from 1st July 2023)

ActivityFeeRemarks
Document Verification INR 5000  
Registration (subject to approval)+ Full course material INR 18000 + INR 16000 Bundled price INR 34000
Financial Plan Assessment INR 10500  Per attempt
CFP® ExamINR 13000  Per attempt
CFP Certification INR 10500   Initial and annual renewable fee
Renewal of Fast Track registrationINR 11500Prior to lapsation of 365 days from initial registration, and annual thereafter