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Financial skills for everyone

December 2006

In 1879 there were no qualifications on offer from the existing education establishment for commercial bankers, so, to rectify this, the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) was created. Later this became the Institute of Financial Services (ifs) and today it is simply known as the ifs School of Finance - a name change established through Royal Charter.

Today the ifs, which is a registered charity, provides financial education to a wide range of financial services professionals, not only in the UK but across the globe. Since 2002 it has also provided qualifications for the wider community in the UK.

In addition, the ifs provides a range of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) services through membership, and executive education through master classes, seminars and prestige lectures.

The charity also incorporates ifs Proshare, a member-based organisation dedicated solely to employee share ownership.

The ifs states that its core value is 'winning' and it seeks to empower its customers to 'win' - individual customers, through the greater choice and control they gain over their careers and lives, and corporate customers, through the enhancement of their staff's performance and expertise.

With over 100,000 students, 30,000 members and 127 years experience in financial education, the ifs is an internationally respected organisation.

Financial capability

The issue of financial education is thankfully beginning to receive the attention it deserves, with a general consensus emerging among policy makers, consumer organisations and commentators that financial incapability is widespread throughout the UK and that action needs to be taken.

The ifs is already taking action, helping to equip future generations with the crucial life skill of being able to spend and save money more wisely.

In 2002 the ifs School of Finance moved outside its traditional arena of providing qualifications to those in the financial services industry by piloting a course for teenagers. Four years later, the charity now offers a Foundation and Intermediate Certificate in Personal Finance (GCSE equivalent), Certificate (AS Level equivalent) and Diploma (A Level equivalent) in Financial Studies. These courses are on offer at around 200 schools and colleges across the UK, benefiting more than 6,000 students.

The qualifications cover topics such as the origins of money, currency exchange, sources of money, spending and saving, opening and accessing accounts, monitoring and managing money, and understanding different methods of payment and their implications.

Independent research from the University of Manchester has suggested that standalone financial qualifications such as these result in 95 per cent of students being able to manage their own finances.

Is there enough time for these qualifications in an already crowded national curriculum for schools? ifs chief executive Gavin Shreeve thinks so: “As those schools and colleges already offering standalone financial education will testify, whether or not sufficient time is given to financial education depends on the importance attached to the subject. If we are serious as a country about enabling people to manage their own finances then there is no real barrier to making the necessary provision - as the 200 schools and colleges already offering financial education qualifications have proven.”

The organisation also runs the hugely successful ifs Student Investor Challenge, sponsored by Deutsche Bank and Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust. This free-to-enter competition is open to teams made up of four students each, aged between 14 and 19, and involves investing a fantasy £100,000 in the stock market over a three-month period.

The best performing teams in each of four regions take part in a final challenge consisting of a business challenge and a presentation. The winning team will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to New York and £2,000 for their school. There are a range of other prizes for second and third-placed teams as well as monthly prizes throughout the three-month challenge (November 2006 to February 2007). More than 30,000 students are currently taking part in the competition.

Anne Kiem, head of external affairs at the ifs School of Finance, said: “The challenge has proved very successful in attracting young people to gain a greater knowledge of the stock market, investments and business - it's a very useful tool in educating about finance. Furthermore, the challenge develops students skills in team working, writing presentations, understanding market information and increasing financial awareness in general.”

Following the success of this challenge, earlier this year the first-ever ifs Uni Investor Challenge was launched. The winner, 22-year-old graduate Anna-Louise Christie, scooped a £9,000 prize and later commented: “I think most students have a very limited understanding of the stock market and personal finance in general, so all university students should consider taking part in the challenge, regardless of the subject they are studying. The challenge will provide them with a better awareness of financial matters - as it did for me.”

The ifs Uni Investor Challenge will commence again in February 2007 and is open to any individual undergraduate. Undergraduates can register their interest now at www.uni-investor.org

The financial capability department at the ifs School of Finance also runs the Young Business Writer of the Year competition. Any UK student aged between 14 and 19 can enter the competition by writing a 1,500-word article in the style of a business magazine.

Marks are awarded for good report-writing style, and for demonstrating research, evaluation, analysis, and written argument skills. The essay question to be answered for the 2007 competition will be announced later this month and be found online at www.studentinvestor.org. The competition closes on 28 February 2007 and will be judged by Robert Cole of The Times.

ifs Proshare

ifs Proshare is a not-for-profit membership organisation concerned solely with Employee Share Ownership(ESO). Members include HSBC, Reuters, HBOS, BP and BT among many others. It offers focus groups, workshops, newsletters and news alerts free for members and also runs topical seminars, training courses and conferences.

The organisation was founded in 1992 by HM Treasury, the London Stock Exchange and a consortium of major companies to promote ESO, primarily through education and research. It was purchased by the ifs School of Finance in 2005.

Fiona Downes, head of employee share ownership at ifs Proshar,e said: “For employers, one of the real benefits in offering such schemes is that they are helping staff save for the future, whilst aligning employees' future prosperity to that of the company. For employees, if the firm performs well the share price will grow and so they will reap the financial rewards.”

At a time when few people are making anything like the necessary financial provisions for retirement, employee share ownership is one way of ensuring more employees do save for their futures.

There are estimated to be at least 3.5 million employees in the UK currently enrolled in an ESO programme and the number is set to increase as more companies realise the many benefits such schemes bring - Royal Mail being one of the most high profile organisations currently considering the introduction of ESO. For more information please visit: www.ifsproshare.org.

Regulatory qualifications

The ifs School of Finance offers a range of regulatory qualifications, some of which are compulsory for those wanting to operate in a particular area. For instance, the Certificate for Financial Advisers (CeFA) is required by any individual who wishes to advise customers on investment, retirement planning and protection options.

Perhaps best known to readers will be the Certificate In Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP). Such a qualification is required by any individual who wishes to advise customers on mortgages. With over 80 per cent of registrations for mortgage-advice qualifications, CeMAP is the benchmark qualification for the industry.

Other certificates offered by the ifs, although not compulsory, still enjoy high levels of take-up as advisers seek to expand their areas of expertise and distinguish themselves from the competition. There is, for example, the Advanced Certificate In Mortgage Advice and Practice (Adv CeMAP). This qualification enables all holders of CeMAP (or equivalent) to expand their technical knowledge and skills and is intended to provide users with a range of development areas building upon the core competence of Treating Customers Fairly.

There are more specialised certificates too, like the Certificate in Commercial Mortgages (CeCM), the Certificate in Lifetime Mortgages (CeLTM) and the Certificate in Regulated General Insurance (CeRGI).

The certificate in Supervising in a Regulated Environment (CeSRE) is also taken by significant numbers of individuals in the mortgage industry. The regulation of mortgage and general insurance activities has made the role of the supervisor more important than ever in financial services organisations and so CeSRE was introduced to help develop the core skills needed to effectively supervise those giving advice on regulated sales and maintain compliant operations.

Mark Roberts, head of faculty financial regulation and corporate & academic relationship management at the ifs School of Finance, said: “Our range of qualifications offer unparalled flexibility and value. They can help shape careers from threshold competence through to advanced topic areas. The ifs is the industry leader for electronic testing with 150 test centres available on demand across the UK, and all examinations are supported by a comprehensive range of learning materials."

Professional qualifications

The ifs offers a range of professional qualifications for the financial services industry, including certificates, diplomas and degrees.

Diploma qualifications are available in financial services, risk & insurance, corporate banking and retail financial services.

In May 2007 a foundation degree in Financial Services Management will be added to the suite of professional qualifications already on offer. The awarding body for this qualification will be the University of Kent but the ifs School of Finance is already working towards gaining its own degree-awarding powers.

David Fields, head of banking and finance at the ifs, said: “This foundation degree will be a blend of academic and work-based learning which will require the active involvement of employers - satisfying the professional educational needs of both employers and learners.”

In 2007 a new degree programme incorporating the diploma and foundation qualifications will be launched. This will be the BSc (Hons) in Financial Markets and Management, delivered and assessed by the ifs but awarded by the University of Manchester. Fields said of the changes planned for 2007: “We are genuinely excited about this new degree course which, like our other degree courses, offers a good vocational/academic mix - providing students with the expert knowledge and skills required to enhance their career prospects.”

The ifs also tailors its diplomas and certificates for individual employers such as Lloyds TSB, RBS Group, Barclays, HSBC and VISA. For example, it provides an Applied Diploma in Corporate Banking (ADCB) for RBS Group and an Applied Diploma in Retailing Financial Services (Applied DFSM - Retail) for HSBC. Fields concluded: “The fact that so many of the worlds leading financial services providers come to us for the provision of rigorous and effective learning programmes is a tremendous demonstration of just how highly regarded our qualifications are.”

For more information please visit www.ifslearning.com