Prudential future-proofs its financial consultants with a new IBF-accredited certification programme. By Odd Haavik, Chief Distribution Officer at Prudential Assurance Company Singapore.

For me, sitting still is not an option; if you're not continuously learning, you're effectively going backwards as everybody else is learning and moving forward.

“If you're not continuously learning, you're effectively going backwards as everybody else is learning and moving forward.”

It’s an ethos that I always try to share with our people at Prudential, including our 5000-strong team of financial consultants, who form the bedrock of our customer engagement.

Professionalism builds trust

I’m a huge proponent of continuous learning because it is closely linked with our ability to provide customers with a consistently high standard of financial advisory from every Prudential Financial Consultant (FC). It builds and sustains the professionalism that is paramount to gaining our customers’ trust and confidence.

Being knowledgeable is much more than simply knowing the products. It extends to gaining a deep understanding of the needs of each unique customer and matching these with the most suitable solution for that point of time in their lives. The best financial consultants will continue to grow with you, as your financial needs continue to evolve.

As customer needs change, we must continuously upgrade our knowledge and skills and keep up with the latest topics in financial planning, so that we can serve our customers better and help them achieve financial security for every life stage.

“This is why we continuously invest in the professional development of our entire Agency by supporting them through industry-accredited programmes and training."

Setting the bar for industry standards

It’s with that aim in mind that we developed a robust learning and development (L&D) programme for our FCs, that lasts throughout their career at Prudential. This ensures a consistency of standards and the highest level of financial advisory.

Our key L&D objective is for all Prudential FCs to be full-fledged, qualified professionals who are accredited by an industry body — just like bankers, accountants and lawyers. That’s how the Certificate in Financial Needs Analysis and Plan Construction (Cert FPC) programme came into being at Prudential.

Accredited by the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF), the national accreditation and certification agency for the financial industry and developed in collaboration with the Singapore College of Insurance (SCI), this new programme sets high professional standards for our FCs.

It comprises 10 competency units including topics such as Financial Products, Cash Management and Investment Planning (Foundation), as well as Ethics and ensuring accuracy in Fact Find and Financial Needs Analysis for each individual customer. The 6-week programme is designed to ensure that all our FCs follow a consistent process to derive a product recommendation that best fits the customer’s needs. FCs who complete the programme graduate are entitled to use the certification title of “IBFQ” [IBF Qualified].

With all our financial consultants slated to complete the programme by June 2021, we are aiming to set the benchmark for the most IBF-certified financial consultants in the market.

Consistency is a team effort

It’s not just the FCs who are taking the course. I have personally completed the Cert FPC together with a number of our corporate staff, because customer service is a team effort. All the players need to be on equal ground so that we can work towards our goal more effectively.

We need to ensure that everyone in the company, from the top down, is on the same page. The FPC course sets a good baseline standard that ensures that everyone shares the same level of understanding when it comes to quality advisory and service.

Learning from experiences

As a company, we train, we educate, we provide the tools, but ultimately it's up to each individual to continue that journey of practicing and gaining more knowledge and practical experience.

Take advantage of the diversity of the people you meet and the challenges that you come across each day to learn something new. I've sat down with a lot of customers who are much smarter than me. I’ve given life insurance advice to multi-billionaires and found they are just like everybody else. Though their situation might be a little more complex or the way they see the world may be different, they want to achieve the same level of financial security for their families and their businesses.

What’s important is to learn from each customer you meet and to keep practicing till you get better. You can never stop learning because you can’t know everything. That’s the beauty of life, and that’s what keeps me going.