Financial Planning Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. (FPCIL) and ICICI Securities today announced a strategic association for promoting Financial Planning and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (CFP) Certification. Under the agreement, ICICI Securities has been empanelled as an Education Partner with FPCIL for delivering the education for CFP Certification Program across India.

The empanelment of ICICI Securities as an Education Partner for the CFP Certification Program marks an important step in the direction of the increasing role of mainstream leading financial sector institutions in expanding the learning opportunities in the Financial Planning domain. In line with the growing career opportunities in the Financial Planning domain, this would help in building up the desired skill sets of the candidates joining the CFP Certification Program.

 ICICI Securities will be conducting these programs under the ICICIdirect Centre for Financial Learning, its knowledge initiative.

Mr. Ranjeet S Mudholkar, Managing Director, Financial Planning Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. (FPCIL) said, "At present, when Financial Planning is considered amongst the most preferred career options across the world, we commend the initiatives of ICICI Securities for aiding the augmentation of Financial Planning movement by joining as an Education Partner for the CFP Certification Program. This would help in enhancing the scalability of education of CFP Certification Program and also increase the opportunities for candidates for the desired industry interface while pursuing the CFP Certification Program."

Mr. Vineet Arora, Executive Vice President and Head-Product & Distribution, ICICI Securities Limited said, "The ICICIdirect Centre for Financial Learning aims at simplifying financial knowledge and increasing financial literacy among prospective or experienced investors & knowledge seekers and we have seen that there is an enormous need for certified financial professionals in India who can understand and service the financial needs of Indians. ICICI Securities believes that this association will help in establishing industry led benchmarks for the education and skill enhancement in the Financial Planning domain along with establishing CFP Credentials as preferred qualification for the Financial Sector."

In India, the Education for CFP Certification Program is delivered by authorized Education Partners through various modes viz. classroom learning, distance learning, and e-learning etc. At present there are more than 36 authorized Education Partners with over 183 branches around the country who are delivering the education for the CFP Certification Program. Currently over 1,40,000 individuals across 24 countries in the world have already attained CFP Certification. At present, in India over 24,000 individuals have enrolled for the CFP Certification Program and over 3500 individuals have passed all modules of CFP Certification Exam.

ICICIdirect.com with over 2.2 million customers is a leading player in online and offline financial product distribution. ICICIdirect Centre for Financial Learning conducts training programs in over 250 of its stores across the country to empower retail investors to take informed decisions on their investments. These training programs include Shares simplified, F & O Simplified, Mutual Fund Primer and Insurance Intelligence. So far more than 50000 retail investors have been trained through these programs.