By Craig Phillips
TribecaLearning has signalled its interest in taking on the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA’s) ongoing education offering — The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation — after being awarded the outsourcing contract to provide FPA students with entry level financial services education last week.
The deal, which confirmed market speculation Tribeca would win the contract, relates to the Diploma of Financial Services (DFS) and Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (ADFS) education courses.It follows the FPA’s formal decision in March to exit the entry level financial services education provision market.
Tribeca chief executive officer Adam Davis stressed the immediate focus for Tribeca would be on the DFS and ADFS designations, however, he also hinted that his group would seek to extend its relationship with the FPA.
“We see it as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship and hopefully extend over time our services into other forms of education with the FPA. It operates the Certified Financial Planner and there could be an opportunity there, but the big focus at the moment is on this arrangement,” he said.
The deal was quickly followed by the Securities Institute saying it too hopes to benefit, in the first instance, from the FPA’s decision to exit entry level financial services education.
“It’s good news for FPA students, they have a clear choice to study with Tribeca or the Securities Institute or wherever they choose,” Securities Institute Brian Salter said.
FPA chief executive Kerrie Kelly said no entry-level student would be disadvantaged by the deal despite the association’s move to only focus on its continuing professional development programs for practising financial planners.
Davis added while it was difficult to state how much revenue the deal would contribute, the group was on target to generate $17.5 million in line with market expectations.
“We didn’t pay any fee for the business. The financial arrangement is that we pay a referral fee to the FPA for each student enrolling in a Tribeca course arising out of this agreement,” Davis said.
