‘We are more like a finance school rather than a business school’

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: an entirely new platform for disseminating financial education to the future financial consultants of India and overseas. ICFP is also authorised by the Financial Planning Standards Board, India, as an education provider for conducting the Certified Financial PlannerCM. The college is promoted by the Bajaj Capital Group.

Tell us about your Financial Planning Certification Program.

We developed this programme four years ago, and it was built with industry participation. The whole financial industry, whether it is banking or wealth management, worked with us in giving us feedback and curriculum enhancement. The advantage of being a private college versus a government college is that we are able to adapt our curriculum on the fly. For instance, this year we are already teaching sub-prime, micro-finance and similar kind of topics, before other colleges have started.

Is ICFP entirely a privately-funded institute? What is the composition of its board of governors?

Being a private college focusing on financial services, we have a board of directors that comprises of eminent luminaries from the financial services industry and academia.

With the world markets collapsing, isn’t it too late for a career in financial planning?

On the contrary, the need for financial planning has never been greater. It is in these challenging times when clients and financial firms who cater to them, realise that they need a structured financial plan for themselves which incorporates their needs, goals and are not linked to daily gyrations of global stock markets.

How many colleges in India teach the curriculum that you have established? How does it work? Do colleges have to buy your certification programme?

Following our success as the market leader with almost 90% of the marketshare for those pursuing financial planning through our distance education and fulltime programmes, there have been several upstart colleges that have come up recently. Since we have our proprietary curriculum, text books & teaching methodology, it is vital that the student has the opportunity to come and study with the best college in the business. Through our programme, which we had launched in 2004, we have created a sort of benchmark. To top it up, we have kept a 100% placement record for the last four years, so the industry acceptance of an ICFP graduate is significantly higher.

Who form ICFP’s faculty members?