The BFAA, founded in 2015, is developing its own licensing exam to meet the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) guidelines.
The agreement between the two bodies means that CISI will allow the BFAA to use relevant material from its qualification syllabi and workbooks to help it develop its own learning material.
The BFAA is a not-for-profit organisation formed jointly by the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Banking Associations and is supported by the largest banks in the Baltics.
It will operate a qualification and licensing system for professionals within the region who provide investment advice or are insurance intermediaries.
Recognition
The BFAA has also agreed to recognise two of CISI’s qualifications as equivalent to their own licensed qualifications, increasing CISI’s formal recognition by regulatory authorities to a total of 45 jurisdictions.
In addition, CISI will recognise the BFAA Investment Advisor qualification as satisfying the requirement for Associate Membership of the CISI (ACSI) to those Baltic practitioners who hold the BFAA Investment Advisor qualification.
The collaboration between the two organisations also extends to holding joint events.
Mifid rules
New ESMA guidelines come into effect in January 2018 aimed at ensuring that all staff working in financial services customer facing roles throughout Europe are qualified to a uniform set of minimum professional standards as outlined in the new MiFID II regulations.
CISI published its own ESMA guidance booklet last year, as a toolkit for firms and regulators across the EU member countries who will need to comply with these new MiFID II regulations if they want to work with consumers.
Kevin Moore chartered MCSI and CISI global business development director said: “We are extremely pleased to be working with the BFAA who share our ethos and dedication to maintaining and raising standards in the investment advice market, for the ultimate protection of consumers.”
CISI works with financial services regulatory authorities in 45 countries around the world. In the EU, CISI’s links are in Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Malta, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland and the UK. The CISI has members in 25 EU member countries and in 2015 the Institute’s qualifications were sat in 24 of these countries.
