CEFEX Workshops Offer Fiduciary Insights

The Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) says the workshop will use “a practical approach to educating advisory firms on the industry’s best fiduciary practices.” The course will also serve as the first step towards achieving the CEFEX Investment Adviser certification, the firm notes.

The workshop incorporates findings from hundreds of CEFEX assessments—annual firm-wide audits of firms holding the CEFEX designation to ensure continuing compliance with a wide range of industry best practices. The CEFEX assessment program involves annual audits and data collection from investment advisory firms and investment support organizations.

Service agreements, disclosures, investment policy statements, due diligence, asset allocation, data security and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) safe harbors are among the topics covered in the course.

Tim Kohn, vice president and head of defined contribution services at Dimensional, says his firm is pleased to be hosting the CEFEX workshops and will work to support the adviser training program. CEFEX Managing Director Carlos Panksep notes that recent comments from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the importance of independent reviews and oversight in the investment advisory industries make this a good time to consider independent auditing services.

“It’s a powerful way to demonstrate trustworthiness,” he adds.

The CEFEX workshops and assessments are based on the standard, “Prudent Practices for Investment Advisors,” published by fi360 Inc. More information on the CEFEX certification can be found at www.cefex.org/advisor.

The first workshop will be held in Santa Monica, California, on May 28, and is offered free to qualified advisers. Advisers who work with Dimensional should contact Ashish Shrestha, Regional Director, Dimensional, at (512) 306-7400 or ashish.shrestha@dimensional.com.

All other advisers should contact Panksep at (416) 693-9733 or cpanksep@cefex.org.