Kaplan Professional’s new graduate diploma of applied finance (GDAF) has been placed on the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Register.

This means students who complete the GDAF will be exempt from taking three of the five CFP certification subjects.

Financial Planning Association (FPA) senior manager of education and certification Kerry Curtin said: “The FPA granted three CFP exemptions because Kaplan’s graduate diploma is grounded in technical training and sets a high quality standard for students pursuing a financial planning career.”

Kaplan said that completing the GDAF allows students exemptions from CFP2 (Applied Strategies 1), CFP3 (Applied Strategies 2) and CFP4 (Investment Strategies).

They will still be required to complete CFP1 (Ethics, Professionalism and Compliance) and a Certification Assessment (CFP5).

The GDAF satisfies the requirements of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s regulatory guide on the training of financial product advisers and includes four compulsory subjects that cover both conceptual and technical skills.

It will replace the graduate diploma of financial planning that was offered by the Financial Services Institute of Australia (Finsia) Education.

In April last year, Finsia announced that it would be selling its business education division to Kaplan.