Former investment dealer reps that return to the industry will face tougher continuing education (CE) requirements, according to changes proposed on Thursday by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
The proposed changes to CE rules stem from feedback received during IIROC’s ongoing review of its CE program. They are designed to help fulfil the self-regulatory organization’s goal of modernizing and simplifying the CE program, IIROC says in a notice.
The biggest proposed change would mean that former reps would no longer be able to use rewriting the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) and Conduct and Practices Handbook Course (CPH) to satisfy their CE requirements.
The rule change would mean that new and returning reps are treated similarly.
“There will be material impact on [dealers] and former [reps] who will no longer be able to use the CSC and CPH to satisfy their CE requirements and consequently will need to take other courses that satisfy the CE requirements,” IIROC says in its notice.
“We do not believe this is an unreasonable requirement as it results in consistent treatment of new and former [reps],” it adds.
The proposals are out for a 30-day comment period, ending Feb. 26.