| Fellow,
Financial Services Institute (FFSI)
Frequently Asked
Questions
What is the
FFSI?
The Fellow, Financial Services Institute
(FFSI) Program is a series of self-study courses designed to meet the
educational needs of people working in the evolving financial services
industry.
Consisting of seven required courses and
three professional achievement credits (PACs), the FFSI Program provides
a context for understanding the design, support, and marketing of all
major financial services while giving students an opportunity to focus a
portion of their studies in a particular product area such as retirement
plans, mutual funds/investments, annuities, or banking.
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Why
did LOMA develop the FFSI Program?
A growing number of
LOMA members regard themselves as financial services companies and have
expressed a strong need for a professional designation program that
provides grounding in financial services products and administration.
LOMA recognizes the existence of many
excellent courses, designations, and other educational programs that are
specific to one financial services product line or area, such as
securities, employee benefits, banking, pension administration, and so
on. No existing program covers the product and administrative aspects of
the financial services industry as a whole or provides a context for
understanding the design, support, and marketing of financial services.
The purpose of the FFSI program is to provide a broad financial services
curriculum that wraps around these other product-specific educational
opportunities. A unique and exciting feature of the FFSI Program is its
recognition of education that employees can obtain from industry
educational organizations outside of LOMA.
Who
should take FFSI courses?
Anyone who needs to understand the
evolving financial services industry
can benefit from FFSI Program
courses. The FFSI designation meets the education needs of managers,
professionals, and other employees whose companies offer financial
services products. The program is intended primarily for people who
develop, manage, administer, support, and provide customer service for
wealth accumulation products, retirement plans, employee benefits,
banking products, mutual funds, and other financial products.
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What
are the seven required core courses in the FFSI program?
- LOMA 286—Principles of Financial
Services and Products
- LOMA 305—Personal Financial Planning
- LOMA 311/316—Business Law for Financial
Services Professionals
- LOMA 326—Financial Services Marketing
- LOMA 351—Financial Services Environment
- LOMA 356—Investment Principles and
Institutional Investing
- LOMA 380—Financial Services and
Products for Organizations
Download
FFSI course outlines! (PDF)
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What
are Professional Achievement Credits (PACs)?
A Professional Achievement Credit (PAC)
is a credit granted by LOMA for demonstrated professional achievement in
the following product areas...
- Annuities
- Mutual funds/investments
- Retirement plans
- Banking.
A student earns a PAC
by completing a course, designation, license, or certificate that LOMA
has approved for use in the FFSI Program. Students must earn a total of
THREE Professional Achievement Credits, in addition to passing the
seven core courses, to earn the FFSI designation.
Please note, students can earn Professional Achievement
Credit from three different categories if they wish. LOMA merely
organizes PACs into product line categories to assist students who wish
to concentrate their studies in one product area.
PACs are similar to electives in that
students are required to complete only a few choices from among a large
list or menu. But PACs are unlike electives for two reasons:
- With electives, the entire menu of
elective options is usually supplied by one organization. The list
of PACs includes courses and programs from many organizations
besides LOMA.
- Electives typically imply a
one-for-one exchange; that is, one elective course equals one
elective credit. With PACs, the exchange is not always one-for-one.
In many cases, a single course is worth one PAC, but in other cases,
multiple courses or even an entire designation are together worth
one PAC.
Download the list
of PACs. (PDF)
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What
Courses, Designations, Licenses, and Certificates are Currently Eligible for PAC?
A few examples of education programs that can be
applied in whole or part toward the PAC requirement include the
following programs:
Please note that this list is ever expanding as LOMA identifies more courses,
designations, and licenses from around the world that are appropriate as
PACs. Click here
for the current PAC list.
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What
LOMA courses can fulfill the PAC requirement?
All five of LOMA's
AAPA courses are eligible for
Professional Achievement Credit, and each of these courses equals one
PAC:
- AAPA 273—Annuity Principles and Products
- AAPA 283—Marketing, Distribution, and Uses of Annuities
- AAPA 303—Annuity Systems and
Administration
- AAPA 313—Financial Aspects of
Annuities
- AAPA 323—Regulation and Taxation of
Annuities
What
is the difference between Professional Achievement Credit (PAC) and LOMA
Transfer Credit?
Professional Achievement Credit
(PAC) is a requirement of the FFSI program only, whereas LOMA transfer
credit applies to all LOMA designations, including the FFSI. By earning
certain non-LOMA professional designations, a student may be eligible to
receive transfer credit for a maximum of three LOMA courses. LOMA
applies these course credits "globally" among all of its
designation programs. In other words, if you receive transfer credit for
a LOMA course, you receive credit for that course in all LOMA
designation programs in which that course is required or elective. Download
the Transfer Credit application form.
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PAC and Transfer Credit Age Limits
You must be a registered student
with an active LOMA student number to apply for PAC credit. However, you
are not required to enroll for an FFSI examination before applying for
PAC.
Exceptions: There is no age limit for NASD licenses
and CFP certifications. However, if you wish
to apply an NASD license toward the PAC requirement, you must be
actively registered in the NASD’s Public Disclosure Program database
on the date you apply for PAC. Also since November 1, 2003, if you
wish to apply a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification toward
the PAC requirement, your certification status must be “Certified”
on the date you apply for PAC. Beginning January 1, 2008, any course,
designation, license, etc. being applied for PAC must have been passed
within 10 years of your PAC or transfer credit application.
PAC Fees
LOMA will charge each student a
one-time PAC application fee of $100 (US) for LOMA members and $150 (US)
for nonmembers. This fee is charged once, the first time a student
submits a PAC application. Payment of the PAC application fee must accompany the
first
PAC application form submitted to LOMA. No fee is required when
the student applies for the remaining PAC(s).
Exceptions:
- No application
form or PAC fee is required to apply LOMA’s AAPA courses
towards the PAC requirement. PAC credit for these courses will
automatically appear on the student’s FFSI designation page in LOMANET.
- LOMA will waive the PAC application
fee for any student who (a) completed LOMA 286 or LOMA 305 by December
31, 2004 AND (b) applies for at least one PAC by December 31,
2007.
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How do I get started in the FFSI program?
You
may already have credit towards the FFSI!
Certain FLMI courses passed before
December 31, 2004 are "grandfathered" into the FFSI program
for a limited time. The following chart explains more...
|
FLMI
Course |
Corresponding
FFSI Course |
If you passed the FLMI
Course by this date |
You can receive FFSI
credit by completing ALL FFSI requirements by |
|
280 |
286 |
Dec. 31, 2004 |
Dec. 31, 2007 |
|
310/315 |
311/316 |
June 30, 2004 |
Dec. 31, 2007 |
|
320 |
326 |
Dec. 31, 2004 |
Dec. 31, 2007 |
|
350* |
351 |
N/A |
Dec. 31, 2007 |
*FLMI 350 was discontinued in 1998 and
replaced in the FLMI program by FLMI 351.
In addition, LOMA 311/316—Business Law for
Financial Services and LOMA 351—Financial Services
Environment count toward both the FLMI and FFSI designations.
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