DSP Blackrock has initiated a comprehensive program that aims to provide 360 degree support to any distribution partner who wishes to offer high quality advice and service to his clients. As a first step in a four part program, the AMC has tied up with CIEL to launch the Accredited Wealth Planner program - an online certification program that you can complete in just 3 months. Read on as Ajit shares with us details of this program as well as the other 3 components of his comprehensive advisor support program.

Investor education starts with distributor education

As a firm, we believe strongly that the only way to tackle the huge task of educating investors across the country is to first educate our distribution partners. There are many distributors and advisors who have taken their own initiative and have embarked on a process of self-learning and are acquiring relevant certifications, but their number is few in the overall context. We believe that if this profession has to acquire credibility in the eyes of investors, distributors will need to equip themselves with much more than just the basic NISM MFD certification that licenses them to sell mutual funds. We must keep in mind that while we like to compare ourselves with doctors, members of that profession are always learning. If you look internationally, registered investment advisors (RIAs) in US or their counterparts elsewhere do invest in themselves through an ongoing commitment towards learning.

DSP Blackrock launches the Accredited Wealth Planner program with CIEL

This is what drove us to partner with Uma Shashikant and CIEL to jointly launch the Accredited Wealth Planner (AWP) program. The aim of AWP is to help you showcase to your clients that you have the necessary knowledge and insights to help them manage their finances effectively. The course has a very strong case study orientation, which gives a good practical angle to the program.

Online self-study course, at a subsidised cost

This is an entirely online self-study program, which you can study at your home, at a convenient time, but you need to complete the course within 3 months of registering. We have subsidised the cost of this program quite significantly. There are similar programs available at various colleges which cost anywhere between Rs.8,000 - Rs.20,000. We've pegged the cost of this program at Rs.3,000 - which we think is very attractive considering that this will be a foundation course for anyone who is serious about wealth management and financial advisory as a career. We have consciously not kept it free - and we've in fact been advised by many advisors to ensure that this is not free - to ensure a certain level of seriousness and commitment from the distributors towards their learning and skills enhancement. But, by subsidising it and keeping the cost payable by the distributor at Rs.3,000, we are trying to make sure that its neither too cheap nor too costly and therefore does not come in the way of anyone who wants to enhance his knowledge and skills.

Once you register, you will be given a login ID and password. You need to complete all the modules within 3 months. After completing the modules, you have to take an online examination at Reliance Web World , and on passing, you will be awarded a certificate jointly by CIEL and DSP Blackrock. I think it is a worthwhile course for two reasons - its practical orientation and the fact that the curriculum has been designed by Uma Shashikant.

This is a level 1 program

Clearly, this is a level 1 certification. So, people who have already completed CFP may not need to do this program. But they can encourage their client facing staff members to enrol for this program and begin their journey towards becoming a competent wealth planner.

We welcome all our distribution partners as well as staff members of our larger partners to avail of this opportunity and get yourselves accredited as wealth planners - in just 3 months.

The big picture - comprehensive advisory support from DSP Blackrock

The AWP program is actually a part of a more comprehensive support program that we have put together to help our distribution partners serve their clients better. Once you have a foundation in wealth planning through the AWP program, you need to follow three essential steps to advice your clients effectively :

1. Risk profiling, which produces an asset allocation

2. Fund analysis and selection to select products that fit this asset allocation, and

3. Portfolio monitoring and review, to enable you to rebalance portfolios and provide ongoing advice

For each of these components, we have tied up with high quality specialist partners to offer the necessary tools at a subsidised cost, to help distributors carry out these 3 tasks effectively. We have tied up with Finametrica to offer their well acclaimed risk profiling tools at a subsidised rate for our partners. We are in the process of tying up with Value Express, which is a fund analytics software and we have already tied up with Wealth ERP which is a multi-product software that records client holdings across mutual funds, deposits, insurance and bonds and provides portfolio analysis.

We have introduced step one in this 4 part program with the launch of AWP. Over the next few months, we will be rolling out the other 3 parts of this comprehensive program which is designed to ensure that any distributor who wishes to offer quality advice to his clients can do so, with high quality comprehensive support from DSP Blackrock.

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