Institute of Financial Studies approach to sustain Romanian Vocational training in insurance Calin M. Rangu, PhD

Institute of Financial Studies Founding member : Financial Supervisory Authority Members : Insurance trade associations, Insurance Legal Experts Association, Actuarial Association Acting: in the field of insurance, private pensions and capital market, from training programs and master programs, to workshops and conferences Mission: identify the needs, and financial mechanisms, to sustain FSA and European legal framework, to support the development of financial entities, companies, including other mandatory vocational training centers, and persons that are involved in the non-banking sector to be complied with legal requirments, and the competencies standards

Institute of Financial Studies Future strategy: From information/knowledge to competencies Knowledge and vocational training broker Developing occupational standards specifics for this domain Uniform and high quality examination of market’s graduates High added-value vocational training to apply the non- banking financial sector regulations, and soft skills developments Studies and research papers on the financial services Financial education for the market/society

Romanian legislation FSA intends to ensure a leveled professional development for the employees in insurance market by Authorizing entities to offer qualification, professional development programs Approves the curricula of the compulsory programs and the topics of the certification examination Acknowledges / Certifies trainers for the compulsory programs FSA is founding and coordinating the Institute of Financial Studies – responsible for the certification examinations

Romanian provisions concerning vocational training Starting with 1 st of September 2011, a distributor of insurance /reinsurance products must have a certificate of vocational training in order to be able to be employed on the insurance market Minimum education requirments Certificate of continuous professional development (CPD) – max 3 years, respectively 2 years for executive Interdiction to further distribute insurance products if deadlines are not met. Assuring competition of vocational training units

New modifications to national framework IDD’s impact: insurance distributors must have adequate knowledge and abilities Minimum training hours per year, based on the products sold, type of distribution channel Certification may be require as a condition to perform on the market

Insurance companies or brokerage companies may verify the knowledge and the abilities of the intermediaries and should offer tools in order to support the development of the employees accordingly Not all employees must prove their knowledge and abilities – key persons in the distribution process or those employees directly involved in the distribution New modifications to national framework (2)

New topics in the curricula: ethics, corporate governance, own-assesments, money laundring, motor claims settlement (executives) Unitary examination New modifications to national framework (3)

ISF’s activity on short term Paradigm change and reorganisation of the Institute of Financial Studies Development of programs for the three markets: insurance, private pensions and capital market Online platform for examination Development of national and international partnerships, including with international certification institutions, recognized for their importance in the market

Focus on… Training the trainers Adapting the certification forms Using new tools of teaching (online training)

Conclusions Benefit from stakeholders’ support Implementing International and Sectorial Qualification Framework Quality CVT brings quality on the market Professionalism, ethics and competencies