Hi all, I was recently hired as a Senior FA for CIBC Imperial Service. One requirement of being an IIROC liscenced RR is to have the WMO completed within 30 months of being hired. I completed my CPH last month 2 weeks after being hired, completed my CSC last summer and my IFIC the year before that. I passed all of these with relative ease, ie IFIC in 1 week, CSC in two months, CPH in 2 weeks. I was thinking about getting the WMO out of the way quickly before things get to stressful at work.

The few people that I have asked said it was hard as hell, but they are NOT brightest of the bunch. My question to those of you that have completed this are: Was the material dry and boring like the CPH? Was the material hard to grasp? Was the exam difficult in caprison to the other 3? Would you suggest that I get it out of the way quickly? How much has it helped you in your current role as a RR? What should I expect?

Any advice in regards to the course. Thanks in advance. I wouldn't say its hard but I did study more for this exam than the others. I completed it 2 years ago. There are 2 tests that you have to complete.

The first test is multiple choice and the second test is case studies and essay type questions. The material was not as dry as CPH and the material is not hard to grasp. From what I remember, there is 3 books to the course so there is a lot of material.

It's not hard if you study. Conduct And Practices Handbook Course Cph Pdf Viewer. The test itself is more challenging than CSC but its about the same as DFOL if you have taken that one. I am not an RR so I cant help you there. With regards to advice, schedule to do both exams on the same day.

Do the first exam in the morning at 9 am and the second exam in the evening. When I did the exams I did it on different days about 2 weeks apart, which is stupid because I had to re-study things.

Learn Real English Authentic Conversations Download on this page. Also, I'm not sure if your employer gives you a day off to go write the exam but I got 2 days off for the exams. What you can do is book both exams the same day and then use the second day off to do whatever you want. Regards, Rob. Mar 29th, 2015 11:00 amwhat is the starting salary for a sr. This was a career path CIBC wanted me to take when i used to work there as an FSR, but I left for a different FI. 55k start if your are IIROC Liscenced FA, plus quarterly bonus baised on net sales and revenue.

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Plus 2.5k if your book is over 90 mil, plus 2.5k when you complete your WMO, plus 2.5k if you have your CFP. So you can start at 62.5k per year without even negotiating or mentioning targets granted that your have your acredations. FABs - Business Advisors can negotiate there salaries usually between 50-60k to start as they are only MFDA liscensed and cannot sell/advise on certain products that we can. There are FAs that I work with that are making more than 150k per year, but have been in the role for 16 years. From interviewing at various FIs I will tell you that CIBC Imperial Service FAs are higher paid then FAs at other banks.

On a side note I am thinking about heading in your route ie Commericial Banking in a few years. Congrats on getting out of retail. Mar 30th, 2015 11:49 am55k start if your are IIROC Liscenced FA, plus quarterly bonus baised on net sales and revenue. Plus 2.5k if your book is over 90 mil, plus 2.5k when you complete your WMO, plus 2.5k if you have your CFP. So you can start at 62.5k per year without even negotiating or mentioning targets granted that your have your acredations. FABs - Business Advisors can negotiate there salaries usually between 50-60k to start as they are only MFDA liscensed and cannot sell/advise on certain products that we can.

There are FAs that I work with that are making more than 150k per year, but have been in the role for 16 years. From interviewing at various FIs I will tell you that CIBC Imperial Service FAs are higher paid then FAs at other banks. On a side note I am thinking about heading in your route ie Commericial Banking in a few years. Congrats on getting out of retail. Yeah, I think if you want to do pure wealth management you'd have to go in the direction of a Wood Gundy, RBC DS, or TD PIA to really reap the benefits. I think the FA role at CIBC is a good place to start while getting your CFP, but your earning potential is huge if you go brokerage or pure private banking (ala BMO Harris etc). No offense, but i'm a little surprised that the starting salary for a SENIOR FA is $55K.

When they were trying to push me in that direction about two years ago, they said the salary was around that range of $50k-55K for just an intro. It's not an easy sales role and they will try to probably keep you in that role for longer than you would like. By comparison, Commercial Banking Associates(the introductory commercial banking role) at CIBC/TD start at $55K base if you're a fresh undergrad that was able to land the job, and it doesn't technically have any certification/designation requirements. You kinda need to compare apples to apples though, the FA roles at CIBC aren't pure retail, they are kind of like a lower-level private banking from my view. I was an FA at TD after being a Sr. FSR SB at CIBC, and FA at TD is more the equivalent of a SR. FSR Investments @ CIBC, maybe half a step up, but it's still pure retail.

Anyways, hope it all works out for you. Mar 30th, 2015 10:45 pmI find MANY people who work in finance are stupid. I find it surprising they gave you the position just for completing the CSC and CPH.

It sounds like you have no prior experience in finance. Anyways such is life.

I passed the CSC with Honours. Doing my CPH right now.

Going to apply for positions in 2-4 weeks time. No I was with CIBC in an advisory role as a first quartile preforming FSR for about 14 months. It is very unlikely - impossible to get an FA role with out experience and more importantly consistent top quartile results.

CIBC used to hire a lot of former brokers instead of FSRs but quickly realized the problems that came with hiring FAs without any system knowledge. I don't see how my questions made you lead to believe that I have no prior experience. If you read the op carefully you would notice that I completed the IFIC several years ago which would lead one to believe that I was already employed in an advisory role - highly unlikely someone would complete the IFIC for fun. I suggest that you read OPs more carefully in the future.

I don't see how your reply contributed at all the thread aside from demonstrating your own ignorance as you clearly have not completed the WMO. Mar 30th, 2015 10:25 pmThanks.

Yeah, I think if you want to do pure wealth management you'd have to go in the direction of a Wood Gundy, RBC DS, or TD PIA to really reap the benefits. I think the FA role at CIBC is a good place to start while getting your CFP, but your earning potential is huge if you go brokerage or pure private banking (ala BMO Harris etc). No offense, but i'm a little surprised that the starting salary for a SENIOR FA is $55K. When they were trying to push me in that direction about two years ago, they said the salary was around that range of $50k-55K for just an intro.

It's not an easy sales role and they will try to probably keep you in that role for longer than you would like. By comparison, Commercial Banking Associates(the introductory commercial banking role) at CIBC/TD start at $55K base if you're a fresh undergrad that was able to land the job, and it doesn't technically have any certification/designation requirements. You kinda need to compare apples to apples though, the FA roles at CIBC aren't pure retail, they are kind of like a lower-level private banking from my view. I was an FA at TD after being a Sr. FSR SB at CIBC, and FA at TD is more the equivalent of a SR. FSR Investments @ CIBC, maybe half a step up, but it's still pure retail.

Anyways, hope it all works out for you. Senior FA just means that FAs are IIROC liscensed and qualify for the FA comp model which basically means the degree to which you exceed your revenue and net sales targets determines your quarterly bonus. With the additional 2.5k raises that I have mentioned.

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