The aim of this article is to provide an overview of some of the CPD Guidelines for the PB designation. This is not exhaustive, and you should refer to the full guidelines for further detail.
Eligibility
The Professional Banker scheme is open to those who:
Successfully complete the Professional Diploma in Financial Services, or the Bachelor of Financial Services (BFS), or the relevant core and option modules from these programmes offered by IOB and awarded by University College Dublin, and
Agree to participate in the CPD scheme for Professional Bankers.
CPD Requirements (Summary)
Total annual CPD requirement is 6 hours.
At least 1 hour must be relevant to Ethics.
At least 3 hours must be completed via IOB provided events and or IOB online modules. These are deemed to be Professional Banker specialist content.
The minimum unit of time recognised and accredited for CPD purposes is half an hour. The maximum number of hours for any single activity is three hours.
All CPD events must be accredited by IOB.
All events must be recorded, and an annual return made by 31 January.
A random sample of members are audited each year.
Cost
To access the CPD content provided by IOB (events, eCPD, etc), you are required to maintain annual IOB Membership (currently €110) and the annual PB designation fee of €195.
Failure to Comply
Any Professional Banker who:
Fails to make an annual return and/or
Fails to co-operate when audited and/or
Fails to pay their membership fees / designation fees; and/or
will be deemed to be in breach of the CPD scheme requirements and in breach of one of the primary conditions for holding the Professional Banker designation (See ‘Welcome and Introduction’). This will result in the removal of the Professional Banker designation from the person.
Any Professional Banker who fails to complete the CPD requirement in any given year as set out in Annual CPD Requirements (i.e. fails to complete the required hours, fails to complete the three hours specialist content category, or fails to complete one hour related to ethics) will, in the first instance, be given a grace period to ‘catch up’ and complete any shortfall in CPD requirements by 31 December of the following CPD year (in addition to the requirements for that CPD year). A five-year shortfall warning penalty will also be applied to the member’s record i.e. if the member fails to complete the CPD requirements as set out in Annual CPD Requirements in any of the five years following the first failure to comply, the Professional Banker designation will be removed.
Where a member is found to have made a false or seriously incorrect annual return, this will be considered misconduct by the member and will be referred for consideration under the disciplinary procedure for members, which may lead to expulsion from membership or other sanction. A member found to have made a false or seriously incorrect return of hours may also be permanently excluded from holding the Professional Banker designation.
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