Structured Products Association rolls out one-day certificate program

By Emma Trincal

New York, July 6 - The Structured Products Association announced the launch of a new SPA Certificate program. All participants completing the full-day seminar will be SPA Certified as a Structured Investments Specialist, announced Keith Styrcula, chairman of the SPA.

The full-day training course on structured products will be conducted by Robert Benson, founder and managing director of Arete Consulting, a financial research firm specializing in the global structured products market with offices in London, New York and Hong Kong.

The first session is scheduled for Oct. 19 in New York.

Compliance effort

The certification program is designed for financial advisers, marketers and investors but also regulators and legal or compliance professionals, Styrcula said in an email announcement.

"This is the ultimate seminar to fortify your knowledge and skill-set in the rapidly growing structured products specialty," the SPA chairman wrote in the email.

"We think the certification program could become an important component in a firm's ongoing regulatory and compliance efforts," Styrcula told Prospect News. "Compliance departments should consider sending their junior people to the program so they can get the nuts and bolts of the products under their purview."

Broad curriculum

"Robert Benson is probably the world's foremost expert on the topic, so we asked him to conduct the first session in October. If it goes as well as we expect, the SPA is likely to have quarterly certification sessions, and perhaps in different cities," Styrcula told Prospect News.

The current schedule for the upcoming training day in October includes various classes focusing on options, cash flows and swaps basics; principal-protection; product wrappers; yield enhancement; risk management; innovation; and sales topics.

"The immediate reaction has been terrific, so far, with almost a third of the seats signed up, in part because of the significant discount for those signing up before July 15," said Styrcula.

Styrcula has been an advocate for more education in the structured products market. The new certificate program is the result of sustained efforts, he said.

'Greater urgency'

"This is the result of informal conversations with regulators who have asked what the industry was doing in the way of educating marketers. After the H&R Block over-concentration case, the self-regulatory element has taken on greater urgency," Styrcula said.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. issued a regulatory notice on reverse convertibles in February and announced that it had fined H&R Block Financial Advisors $200,000 for inadequate supervision of reverse convertible notes sales.

Inquiries can be sent to structured.products.events@gmail.com, or go to StructuredProducts.eventbrite.com.

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