by Mark Ommanney, Director General, LIA

Mark Ommanney, Director General, LIA

Imagine the scenario; you are feeling unwell and visit your Doctor. He examines you and tells you that you have (say) a hernia which must be operated on as soon as possible. He knows of two Surgeons who could carry out the operation and you decide you would like to meet both. You meet with Surgeon A, a likeable man who clearly qualified years ago and has operated on patients with similar conditions for over 30 years. He explains the procedure to you - he will have to open you up, it will leave you with a substantial scar and require you to be in hospital for several days. Furthermore, because of the invasive nature of the surgery, you will not be able to drive for 2 weeks or play sport for 3 months. He says he has always carried out the procedure this way and that is how he likes to do it.

You then meet Surgeon B. He too qualified many years ago but explains that advances in medicine mean that he can perform this operation using keyhole surgery. You will be in hospital overnight, can drive yourself home and will be playing golf again within a fortnight. He goes on to explain that he has always been careful to ensure that he keeps abreast of up-to-date techniques since medical practices are advancing so fast and he wants to give his patients all the advantages associated with new practices.

They both purport to be professionals in their field and they have both been around for a while. But which Surgeon do you choose? Surgeon A, who has always done it that way and has not bothered to update his knowledge or skills since he qualified? Or Surgeon B who has gone out of his way to develop his skills in line with more recent advances in knowledge and procedures? I know who I would choose.

Now this might seem a strange analogy but does this not equally apply to professional advisers? Clearly any adviser needs to achieve a certain standard of qualification before he or she is allowed to advise the public on their financial affairs. But if that adviser fails to keep his knowledge up-to-date, fails to refresh areas of knowledge that perhaps have not been used for a while or fails to make himself aware of recent changes in products, regulation or legislation then that adviser is clearly not able to provide the advice (treatment) that is available from other advisers in the marketplace. Furthermore, he is not demonstrating to others the level of his existing knowledge thus leaving himself wide open to criticism and action by clients or the Regulator at some future date.

Whether you are a Lawyer, Accountant or indeed a member of the Medical Profession, the professions have for years been required to carry out Continual Professional Development. Admittedly some have done this better than others. Since the early 1990's financial advisers have had to carry out CPD and this was based on the number of hours spent on this per year. For some time this has been widely recognised as not working.

Yet there is still an overriding need to confirm existing knowledge - this needs to be evidenced to both employer and the Regulator alike. Every firm has a duty to ensure that its advisers are competent and that their knowledge is up-to-date. Indeed the buck stops with the CEO of that firm who is an approved person and who ultimately carries responsibility for the competence of his advisers, and indeed his back office staff.

It is for this reason that the LIA have entered into a joint venture with the CII and SoFA to provide an online system, Financial ASSESS (http://www.financialassess.co.uk/) to enable advisers to keep their knowledge up-to-date and to be able to prove to their employer and the Regulator that they have done so. Financial ASSESS, launched in April this year, enables advisers to test their knowledge and where there are gaps, to bring this up-to-date.

By doing so on a regular basis they are able to demonstrate their level of knowledge, ensuring that they are able to give their clients up-to-date advice and, just as importantly, take pride in the fact that they are keeping their skills at the highest level available.

In a time when the whole financial services industry (or is it a profession?) is under attack, one way of feeling good about oneself and the service you provide for your clients is to be proud in the knowledge that your skills remain at the highest level.

Whether this is through a system such as Financial ASSESS or your own in-house CPD, there is no alternative to keeping your knowledge fully up to date. I think Surgeon B's patients would be inclined to agree!

About Mark

Mark joined Sun Life of Canada in 1975 as a financial consultant where he enjoyed a successful track record in personal sales and sales management. He developed his sales team into a branch and built up a successful operation as Branch Manager. He then moved to their Head Office as Assistant Vice President, Agency and ultimately as a Sales Director. He joined the LIA in 1980, subsequently qualifying as a fellow (FLIA).

In 1999 he joined a small Internet monitoring and surveillance company, IBNet, as CEO where one of his first roles was to secure second round funding for the business. This was achieved with a successful flotation on the AIM market in 2000. Together with the founder directors, he took the business from a small limited company to a plc with a manpower of 30.

Mark was appointed LIA Director General in January 2003.