Pittsburgh-based fi360 has launched its Fiduciary Essentials for Advisors (FEA) training program to help the financial services industry deepen its understanding of the DOL fiduciary rule.
“This is something new but also highly in demand,” says John Faustino, chief product and strategy officer for fi360. “We had no FEAs at the beginning of this year. By the end of next year we’re going to have tens of thousands of them at the least.”
FEA is a self-guided, web-based program that offers fiduciary education, particularly for broker-dealer representatives and support staff. The program focuses on the fiduciary roles and responsibilities of advisors managing IRAs and ERISA retirement plans.
While fi360 already offers the Accredited Investment Fiduciary and Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst designations, it designed FEA as an entry-level certification to allow broker-dealers to quickly train their workforces, says Faustino.
“Broker-dealers, especially independents, wanted something that was a little bit lighter and less involved than the AIF designation that could be more broadly purchased and used to educate large groups of individuals within their workforce,” Faustino says.
The fi360 FEA program is divided into five modules designed to impart a basic understanding of fiduciary obligations, including how to mitigate the DOL’s conflict of interest rule. While the overall content of the program is similar to what’s contained within the AIF curriculum, the certification has no continuing education requirements. However, the firm recommends that advisory staff retake the FEA coursework every three years.