Members of the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA) in Spain will be able to work as financial advisers in Mexico.
The Spanish branch of the EFPA has reached a collaboration agreement with the Mexican Association of Securities Institutions (AMIB), the body responsible for professional licences in the central American country.
The agreement will see Spanish certifications recognised in Mexico. Specifically, any professional holding a “European Financial Adviser” (EFA) or “European Investment Practitioner” (EIP) certification will be able to get either a “Promoter of Securities” or an “Adviser in Strategies of Investment” licence.
However, EFPA members must pass a modular examination of the Mexican securities market and take and accredit AMIB’s ethics course.
Mutual recognition
If a Spanish professional wants to be licenced in Mexico, they would need to undergo:
- Accreditation for the ethics course;
- Reservation of an exam date, in which the evidence the adviser has an EFPA certification (EFA or EIP) would have to be sent to the AMIB electronically;
- Entry of the application in the system that the AMIB has enabled for these processes;
- Entry of the data and documents indicated for each service;
- Once the application is accepted, continuation of the examination process.
Similarly, EFPA Spain will grant EIP certifications to Mexican licence holders once they have passed the legal framework and Spanish tax course, or following a formal commitment to complete a 30-hour continuous training in those subjects within the first year of certification.
Mexicans who want to obtain the EFA certificate, after they have received the investment professional certification, can take EFPA’s Level II exam; or if they are already a licensed adviser in Mexico, they can directly take the exam.
Josep Soler, EFPA Europe adviser and executive delegate of EFPA Spain, said: “This agreement supposes a very important mutual recognition for the certifications of both organisations and one more step for the universalisation of EFPA, which will facilitate that all our certified members can exercise their professional work in Mexico, a very attractive market for Spanish financial advisers.”
