Retail Financial Services

Even with the challenges of the recent banking crisis, there remains an increasingly profitable market for retail banking across the world. Retail banking offers a huge range of services to a wide variety of clients and customers and the skills needed to manage a retail operation remain many and varied. The recent liquidity crisis has added additional management challenges and will continue to change some banking practices. As customers, shareholders and regulators seek reassurance that their institution is soundly based, the need for up to date skills, knowledge and treating customers fairly has never been greater.

On top of all of this the FSA have outlined a desire for every adviser to achieve 35 hours per annum of Continuing Professional Development. This may be achieved through reading, attending conferences or through in house programmes; however, sometimes alternative programmes may be more suitable.

Below is a range of programmes we cover:

Systems Training

Keeping up to date with the latest and most effective way of recording your customer information, perhaps from a regulated sales meeting, is a vital part of ensuring the success of your business. We have extensive experience in systems training, especially when integrating the system into a sales conversation.

Product training

The economy is driving us to be increasingly competitive and imaginative in the products we offer to our customers. Our team of experienced and skilled consultants can work with you to design and deliver your latest products in an imaginative and inspiring format. We also pride ourselves in being able to adapt to your company’s sales culture and are happy to simply offer our services as ‘extra hands’ in the delivery of major projects, if you have designed the material already. We also offer programmes which can include product testing and certification to demonstrate continuing professional development.

Procedural training

In the world of Financial Services Regulation, we are used to procedures changing frequently as a result of changing legislation or direction by the regulator. This is particularly relevant as we are about to enter a further period of change with the dissolution of the FSA. We are experienced in working with large financial services companies in designing and implementing procedural programmes which embed the latest regulations in a practical hands on approach, bringing the procedures to life, whilst also reflecting your own culture and company procedural requirements. Our programmes introduce an aspect of measurement at the end of the programme to ensure the learning has been effective both in the short term and then longer term once back in the business.

Induction/FSA stage one programmes

When managing a regulated sales force one of the most important areas to consider is the initial training and development that is provided. This area is vital as you need to ensure your new starters operate from both a compliant and customer friendly angle as soon as possible. Our team of consultants have many years experience on boarding new advisers, taking them through the initial stage one training to a point where they can trade, and you have the confidence that they are compliant to FSA and company standards and also confident with their sales skills. We are happy to work with you and your training and competence scheme to work out a path of development that meets all the requirements and produces a top performing sales team.

Ongoing sales skills training

Once your sales force have achieved their stage one and become more experienced with their role, we can then help you to develop their skills further by becoming more effective in the way they deal with customers, establish needs and gain commitment from the customer. We offer a range of sales skills programmes which can be tailored to your sales process, systems and products, and our team of consultants are extremely experienced in this area – many of them having sold in a regulated environment themselves. Some of our consultants are also qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming business practitioners and bring these additional skills to the more advanced sales programmes.

Training and competence schemes with online CPD solutions

Occasionally it is necessary for training and competence schemes to undergo a complete review – often as a result of mergers or acquisitions, where the integration of 2 schemes becomes a challenge. We can help you take a step back and use our skills to assist in the review and restructure of your new training and competence scheme. We have a team of consultants who work closely with the regulator and have many years experience of working with companies in this area. If necessary we can also assist with the development and roll out of any training necessary as part of the restructure. At GP we have access to leading industry online CPD solutions to help in planning, tracking and producing evidence based statistics.

Knowledge training

At GP we are passionate about developing solutions that ensure your people not only pass exams, but also truly gain a greater understanding of the subject matter. We currently offer the IFS Diploma for Financial Advisors and the CII Diploma in Financial Planning as face to face workshops and we have access to leading industry gap analysis and competency testing solutions. Work is also underway at GP for the revised IFS Diploma and the CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning, both of which will fully meet the FSA level 4 requirements without the need for a CPD gap fill (although the 35 hours pa requirement will still be necessary).