HKSI to assist in the re-training of Brokers

In response to recent changes regarding minimum brokerage fees, the Hong Kong Securities Institute will be offering significant discounts to members and licensed representatives on a new program aimed at providing brokers with a range of skills in the area of financial planning.

Gary Cheung, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Securities Institute comments,

"Globally brokerage margins have been under pressure. In many countries, brokers have chosen to re-skill themselves and become more generalist financial planners, offering advice in mutual funds, insurance and other banking products, in addition to advising on equity products. I think that this trend will certainly continue in Hong Kong,"

"Anticipating that some of our own brokers may wish to sell these products in the future, we have designed a new program called the Professional Certificate in Financial Services aimed at providing brokers with a fundamental knowledge base in the area of financial planning."

"We certainly hope that this course will act as a stepping stone for many brokers to enter the financial planning industry and give them an understanding of how to offer a range of integrated financial services to their clients."

The HKSI Professional Certificate in Financial Services will be launched to the market at the end of April 2003. The course will take 80 hours to complete and will be composed of four key modules including; Fundamentals of Financial Planning and Service, Introduction to Financial Management, Hong Kong Financial Markets and Applications of Financial Planning.

"The HKSI is obviously aware that many professionals within the brokerage industry are suffering hardship at the moment. As a result we are happy to offer this program at a significant discount to HKSI members and SFC licensed representatives," said Gary Cheung.

This Professional Certificate in Financial Services will be priced at $1080 per module for HKSI members, $1260 per module for SFC licensed representatives and $2,160 per module for other market participants. It should be noted that these prices represent a 50% discount to HKSI members and 42% discount to SFC license holders.

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