Sovereign partners with Open Polytechnic

Sovereign partners with Open Polytechnic to help advisers comply with industry regulations

Sovereign today announced a new partnership with the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand that will see it provide integrated training solutions to help financial advisers obtain the government’s new National Certificate in Financial Services.

New regulations covering the provision of financial services take effect at the end of this year and will require advisers to demonstrate competency in order to provide financial advice.

David Haak, Head of Adviser Distribution for Sovereign says Sovereign has chosen to align with the Open Polytechnic, which has been accredited by the standards setting body for the financial sector, (ETITO) (1), due to its reputation as an institute with strong academic credibility and ability to develop training programmes specifically to meet New Zealand’s new industry legislation.

“In the UK and Australia, similar changes resulted in a number of financial advisers exiting the industry, but Sovereign’s partnership with the Open Polytechnic is specifically designed to help smooth the way for advisers so that they remain in the industry.

“We understand that new regulations and compliance standards can be over-whelming, so we wanted to make sure our advisers had access to comprehensive yet simple training that will help them comply,” he says.

Haak adds that Sovereign is supporting the Open Polytechnic with its customised programme development and is establishing a network of Sovereign-accredited facilitators who will go through the full training process.

Open Polytechnic Chief Executive Dr Caroline Seelig says the industry requires a range of learning options to ensure financial advisers throughout the country are able to meet the new competency requirements.

"As a national provider of flexible learning we are able to support a large number of individual advisers as well as delivering customised solutions for organisations.

"We're very pleased to be working with Sovereign in developing an innovative partnership-based approach to meeting the needs of their advisers."

Developed by the standards-setting body for the financial sector, the ETITO, there are four sets of unit standards covered by the new Certificate.

Sovereign’s existing processes - initially based on the Australian and UK Compliance Standards – have also been mapped to the new (ETITO) unit standards.

Sovereign will announce its full training and support offering to advisers at its industry-leading financial adviser conference, to be held in Auckland from 21-23 April 2010.

For more information on the services offered by the Open Polytechnic, news on the industry regulation or a full overview on the Proposed National Certificate in Financial Services – Financial Advice (Level 5), please visit www.sovereigninsider.co.nz or www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz.

[1] Electro-technology Industry Training Organisation

ENDS

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