The CISI and the Kenya-based College of Insurance are teaming up to launch qualifications for financial advisers in Africa.

The Nairobi-based College of Insurance and the London-based Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), the professional body for UK Certified Financial Planners, have signed a  partnership arrangement that will see the COI offer training towards CISI qualifications.

The first focus is on the Award in Bancassurance with other CISI qualifications to be added. The qualification is designed for financial advisers and insurance agents working in the banking sector and is awarded by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) in partnership with the CISI in Africa.

The Award in Bancassurance (AWB) provides a grounding in core financial, life assurance and insurance products.

It offers guidance on what constitutes professional practice and provides a framework for ethical behaviour, says the CISI. 

The chief executive of the college, Dr Ben Kajwang, said that the qualification would be key in building capacity within the banking sector at an international standard.

The CISI says it will help ensure that institutions and their staff are equipped with the “knowledge, skill and expertise” necessary to arrange insurance products sales through banking channels.

It will also enable them to advise and recommend products suitable to clients in an “ethical manner”, a concept that is increasingly important to the regulator (the Insurance Regulatory Authority), says the CISI.

CISI director of global business development Kevin Moore Chartered FCSI, said: ”We are delighted to partner with the COI, the premier training college for insurance courses in East and Central Africa, working towards building capacity within the banking and insurance profession.

“This partnership is well aligned to our educational charitable objectives promoting, for the public benefit, the advancement and dissemination of knowledge across the financial services profession and developing the highest ethical standards for practitioners.”