The system for verifying the skills and knowledge of the employees of investment services providers and of financial investment advisors relies on the services of the AMF and the Financial Skills Certification Board (HCCP).
The HCCP's missions
Set up in 2009, the Financial Skills Certification Board issues opinions, at the request of the AMF, on the system for verifying professional skills. Its opinions enable the AMF to:
• define what constitutes the minimum requisite knowledge and ensure that this is kept up to date;
• define and check the examination procedures;
• issue, after analysing their applications, certification to training bodies requesting this.
Introduced in July 2010 and placed under the authority of the HCCP, the system for verifying the minimum requisite level of knowledge for the current or future employees of investment services providers (ISPs) was extended in 2017 to financial investment advisors (FIAs). Between 1 July 2010 and 31 December 2023, more than 115,000 people passed the professional certification examination with one of the 13 training bodies certified by the AMF.
In addition, since 2022, the AMF has offered a module to test knowledge about sustainable finance. This is aimed in particular at sales professionals wishing to acquire a general understanding of the regulatory and economic framework for sustainable finance. By 31 December 2023, nearly 3,000 people had passed this optional examination.
HCCP members
The Financial Skills Certification Board is comprised of at least seven members appointed by the AMF, including one member of the AMF Board, who chairs the HCCP. At least four of the members are selected for their professional expertise, and there are two independent members with expertise in education or professional training in the field of finance. Its members are appointed for a renewable three-year term.
On 20 February 2024, the AMF appointed a new Chair of the HCCP, and from 2 April 2024 nine new HCCP members. The AMF would like to thank Jacqueline Eli-Namer, the previous Chair, and the former members for their involvement in the work of the HCCP during their term of office.
New composition of the Financial Skills Certification Board:
Chair:
• Olympe Dexant-de Bailliencourt, member of the AMF Board since February 2024.
Members:
• Florence Bastide, Head of Compliance CIB, Barclays France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Member of the AMAFI Compliance Committee.
• Jean-Baptiste Blanc, Head of Compliance and Internal Control, Sycomore Asset Management.
• Nathalie Calvet, Director of the Ecole de la Banque et du Réseau, La Banque Postale.
• Karen Fiol, Vice-Chair of the Chambre Nationale des Conseillers en Gestion de Patrimoine and Partner at Fortunexpert.
• Yann Lejolivet, Director of Banking Products, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa.
• Benjamin Morizet, Head of Regulatory Compliance, LCL.
• Sébastien Pouget, Professor of Finance at Toulouse School of Management, Co-director of the Sustainable Finance Research Initiative.
• Myriam Roussille, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Institut d'Études Judiciaire at the Université du Mans.
• Enguerran Six, Head of Compliance and Internal Control, AXA IM Paris.
This composition maintains a balance between the fields of banking, management, markets and training, as well as gender parity.