Saskatoon college launches financial assistant diploma program

(September 15, 2005) As it pushes its centennial year, the Saskatoon Business College has started up a program for assistants in the financial services sector. The first of its kind in Saskatchewan, the 10-month, five-hour a day diploma program kicked off earlier this month for the purpose of fast-tracking students into the work force upon graduation.

Principal Beth Shewkenek says it was the right time to offer a program specifically for financial assistants. “We’ve had students who have had some of the other pieces but not the specifics that relate to the financial professional planning [arena],” she says.

“We did consult with a group of financial people in our own community and found there was a real need for individuals who had this kind of training.” That advisory board was comprised of members of Saskatoon’s financial industry including brokerage houses, banks and private consultant firms, who concluded there was a hole to be filled in providing quality education to potential financial assistants.

“It’s a really unique field that has unique expectations from both the client perspective as well as from the broker, or the financial planner or the bank,” notes Shewkenek.

“There is a wealth of knowledge that needs to be [addressed] to able to get these people up and running. If we can have these students prepared with the basics they need that are unique to that field, it makes it so much easier and less frustrating to the individuals who will work with them ultimately as a partner.”

Courses being offered are taught by instructors from a variety of educational backgrounds from accounting to working within the financial industry, providing both hard and soft skills accompanied by real-world examples. Courses include mathematics of finance, financial accounting, micro and macro economics, human relations and computer software package training geared to financial services. Additionally, students must complete the Canadian Securities Course (CSC).

CSC instructor Colin Berger says in addition to its conduct and practices component which is heavy on the compliance training end, he is trying to drive home the know-your-client (KYC) rule with students along with the suitability of different investment approaches for the individual client. “We look at the different investment objectives like safety, growth, income — your three primary objectives — and then try to tie into real-world examples of who would be looking at each as a client — what type of person fits with that investment profile. For example, Berger will present the scenario of an elderly client who is seeking supplementary income, and show students how an income approach to investing might be more appropriate for her.

Berger noted this week his 10 students examined case studies extracted from the IDA website outlining disciplinary hearings for various investment firms and advisors. “We’re looking at a couple of the hearings and trying to illustrate where the advisor or the firm had gone wrong and tying that together with the clients and how that would work with the clients’ investment objectives,” he says.

Further, through the CSI (formerly known as the Canadian Securities Institute), his students will be utilizing an online tool known as an investment simulator that allows them to build a portfolio for the client. “It will help tie in the investment approach that should be used for a specific individual with their investment objectives,” Berger says.

Elaine Andrew, an executive financial consultant with Investors Group Financial Services in Markham, Ontario, says this type of a program offering is valuable to both potential assistants and the advisors they’ll eventually be working with. From past experience, Andrew knows the perils of hiring assistants that can’t deliver. Though she’s pleased with her staffing structure now, she notes the advantage a course such as this one can offer advisors in the hiring process.

“It would be wonderful for me to be able to go to a pool knowing these people have all been trained; they should have some base knowledge as opposed to us going out and hiring out of the firm or somebody who couldn’t make it in the business,” she explains.

Shewkenek says the school has a demonstrated track record in prepping its graduates for direct entry into the financial services industry, and that through its graduate-employers liaison program it has been routinely successful in directing industry employers to suitable candidates. “We would consider that these 10 people we’re working with this year to be tomorrow’s partners who would be working very much hand-in-hand with the financial planner, broker, etc.,” she says. “Instead of taking somebody that you think will be able to do this work, here you will have some proven credentials that they do know how to do it.”

Filed by Heidi Staseson, Advisor’s Edgeheidi.staseson@advisor.rogers.com