FSFM certificate: how to get it?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Federal Service for Financial Markets (FFMS) of Russia regulates the stock market as a whole, operations carried out on it, and the relationship between its participants. Therefore, in order to carry out legal activities in the financial market, the Bank of Russia requires specialists to have a qualification certificate for working in the financial market (FFMS certificate).

Who should be certified

The FFMS of Russia developed and approved by Order No. 10-4/pz-n dated January 28, 2010, the Regulations on Financial Market Specialists.

It says that employees of organizations that operate in the financial market, carrying out the following activities should undergo mandatory certification:

• depository;
• broker and dealer;
• securities management;
• organizer of work on the securities market;
• clearing;
• for maintaining the register of securities holders;
• on the management of non-state pension and mutual investment funds;
• specialized depository of non-state pension and mutual investment funds.

In these organizations, not the entire staff passes the certification, but only the following employees:

• head, deputy head, heads and deputy heads of branches, if their duties include decision-making in the field of the organization's activities;
• head and deputy head of the division, if their responsibilities include decision-making in this area, including internal accounting of transactions with securities;
• an employee whose duties include internal control over the organization's actions in the financial market;
• an employee whose duties include the direct implementation of the organization's work in the financial market.

How to get a certificate of the Federal Financial Markets Service of Russia, it is also useful for students who graduate from universities in financial speci alties and intend to start working in leading companies upon graduation. In practice, employers in 80% of cases want to see among the candidates for their jobs holders of such certificates in the speci alty that the organization is focused on. The presence of a ready-made certificate enables the graduate to quickly find a highly paid and interesting job.

Who is allowed to take the exam

In order for a candidate to start taking the exam for a FFMS certificate, it is necessary that he meets several conditions:

1. Over 18
2. If the candidate previously had a FFMS certificate and it was canceled, then more than threeyears.
3. Applicant must successfully complete the core exam.

Who conducts the exam

Initially, the certificate was issued and the exams were conducted by the Federal Financial Markets Service of the Russian Federation (FFMS of Russia), which is why it is called so. Then the issuance functions were transferred to certified training centers. They are accredited by the Bank of Russia to take exams for stock market specialists and have the right to issue a certificate from the Federal Financial Markets Service. Basic and specialized examinations are also conducted by these accredited training centers. Depending on the center, the cost of the exam, otherwise called the exam fee, ranges from 2,000 to 4,000 rubles.

During the basic qualification exam, candidates are tested on their knowledge of legal acts related to the regulation of financial markets, on the ability to make simple calculations using the methods of financial and economic analysis, economic statistics and mathematical economics.

During a specialized qualification exam, a test is conducted to test in-depth knowledge of the regulatory framework relevant to a particular specialization in the financial market.

What documents are required to pass the exam

Before the basic exam, the study centers assemble groups for enrollment in which you need to submit:

• copy of higher education document (if any);
• contract and application form of the training center;
• copy of passport;
• receipt ofpayment.

To pass a specialized exam, you must have:

• documents confirming the successful completion of the basic exam;
• copy of higher education document;
• contract and application form of the training center;
• copy of passport;
• payment receipt.

When they can refuse to pass the exam

The reason for not admitting a candidate to the exam may be one of the following reasons:

• candidate came to the exam without a document proving his identity;
• incomplete set of required documents submitted;
• submitted documents contain inaccurate or false information;
• It has been more than five years since I passed the basic exam;
• cancellation of the results of the previous exam, if three months have not passed since its date;
• 3 years have not passed since the cancellation of the candidate's previous certificate;
• previously, the candidate had an attempt to pass the exam on someone else's passport, and from that moment less than one year has passed.

How the exam works

Entrance to testing is carried out according to the passport. The rules for conducting the exam do not differ in excessive freedom, only a pencil, pen and blank sheets of paper for writing can be used in the exam, it is allowed to use a non-programmable calculator.

Strictly prohibited during the exam:

• use Russian regulations in any form;
• use special and reference literature;
• use mobile communications and other ways of transmitting and storing information;
• leave the testing room before it ends;
• chat with someone about exam topics;
• record and transmit the content of test questions;
• delay test answers after exam time;
• bring in exam papers from the testing room.

Testing takes place in electronic form in a specially equipped auditorium. The tasks and questions of the tests are formed based on the requirements of the Bank of Russia for qualifying exams for a stock market specialist. The Core Exam and the Series 5 Certificate Exam are two hours long, while the rest are one hour long.

For the correct answer in the test system, one or two points are assigned depending on the complexity of the question. Successful passing of the test is considered when the subject scored more than 80 points out of a possible 100. If the candidate scores from 75 to 79 points during testing, then he can appeal his results within a month from the date of the exam. The appeal takes place in the form of an independent two-hour written work with the rationale for the correctness of their answers. At the same time, it is already allowed to use legal documents.

What types of certificates exist

In order to earn a certain type of certification, you must first pass a basic qualifying exam, sometimes referred to as the Series 0.0 exam. After passing itno certificate issued.

Specialized FFMS certificates are required for real work. Types of specialized certificates depend on the type of activity in the financial market:

• FSFM 1.0 certificate - training for dealer, brokerage and securities management activities.
• FSFM 2.0 certificate - for clearing activities and work on the stock exchange.
• FSFR 3.0 certificate - for accounting activities for securities holders;
• FSFM 4.0 certificate - for depository activities.
• FSFM 5.0 certificate - for managing non-state pension, investment and mutual funds.
• FSFM certificate 6.0 - for the activities of a special depository of non-state pension, investment and mutual funds.
• FSFM certificate 7.0 - for the activities of funds for non-state pension provision, professional and compulsory pension insurance.

For how long is the certificate issued

After successfully passing the exam within 15 days, the training center issues a qualifying certificate of a financial market specialist to the applicant. The certificate is perpetual.

Who maintains the register of certificates

The register of issued and canceled certificates of financial market specialists is maintained by the Bank of Russia. This registry contains information:

• about the specialist who received the certificate;
• about the series and certificate number;
• about the area of the financial market for which the certificate was issued;
• other necessary information.

When changing the data contained in the unified register, the owner of the certificate is obliged to notify the Bank of Russia about this. To do this, it is enough for him to send a written application to any territorial division of the Bank of Russia, attaching copies of documents confirming the legality of the changes and a copy of the certificate.

Certificate revocation

If the owner of the certificate violates Russian legislation in the field of securities and financial markets, the Bank of Russia may cancel his qualification certificate for a period of three years. After the decision to cancel within five working days, the Bank of Russia notifies the holder of the certificate from which it was canceled, attaching a copy of the relevant order of the FFMS.

The list of canceled certificates is posted on the official website of the FFMS of Russia in free access for all interested parties within ten business days from the date of the decision to cancel. This decision can only be challenged by the certificate owner in court.

How to prepare for the exam

Recently, training centers offer candidates seeking to obtain a FFMS certificate training in preparatory courses. The convenience of attending preparatory courses lies in the possibility:

• receiving recommendations from teachers taking the exam;
• passing a pre-trial test to identify weaknesses in a candidate and reduce the anxiety and stress of taking the actual exam;
• studyspecialized manuals and guidelines with examples of questions and tasks with answers to them.

In addition, preparatory courses that can be taken remotely have become very popular. This method is much cheaper than full-time education while maintaining its quality. So, the most popular is the exam for the right to obtain a certificate of the Federal Financial Markets Service 1.0. Materials for self-preparation for it are easy to find.