Press Release

New pension planning unit given appropriate exam status

 1 December, 2006

The CII's new Pension Planning (AF3) Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning unit has been confirmed by the Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) as an appropriate examination for those acting as a pensions transfer specialist.

The FSSC has added AF3 to their list of appropriate exams as meeting the full exam requirement for those carrying out pension transfers. Introduced in October, AF3 has replaced the CII's G60 Pensions exam which is no longer available following the replacement of the Advanced Financial Planning Certificate with the new Advanced Diploma.

CII deputy director general Bob Bullivant says, "All CII exam units go through the most rigorous assessment and we are very pleased that the quality and high standards of our new pension planning unit has been recognised by the Skills Council. Candidates taking the new exam can be confident that it will meet the regulatory requirements for those undertaking pension transfer business."

The Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning consists of a series of papers which test the candidates planning skills in being able to apply the benchmark and technical knowledge gained through completing the Certificate and Diploma units. Two specialist pensions papers are available from the CII within the Diploma range - Pension funding options and Pension income options - to enable the pensions specialist to build-up an in depth technical knowledge.

AF3 Pension planning will be examined for the first time in April 2007. Those who have already completed the G60 exam will not need to take the new AF3 unit.