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Wealth management a growing business

Toronto is swimming in money. A City of Toronto survey found that between 1994 and 2004, the aptly nicknamed Hogtown was North America's fastest growing financial services sector and the generator of 10% of all Canadian economic activity.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2007-09-26 ]

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So, who's managing all this loot? Accountants, lawyers, and financial planners: all the usual suspects with the right designations.

But their heroic efforts are not enough to keep pace with the figurative mountains of cash accumulating in bank vaults. That's why Sheridan College in Oakville launched its Banking and Wealth Management diploma program this September.

"The financial services industry is changing," says Upinder Bajwa, a Sheridan professor and co-ordinator of the three-year diploma program. "The industry is very, very dynamic."

In other words, as private wealth continues to accumulate -- whether here or elsewhere -- more and more properly qualified people will be required to manage it. Presently, 11% of the GTA workforce is employed in financial services.

The program at Sheridan was developed in co-operation with the financial services industry, Bajwa says. All the major banks were involved, as were other players, such as the associations representing financial planners and the insurance industry.

As a result of their involvement, the program will integrate professional courses from the likes of the Institute of Canadian Bankers, Advocis (a life insurance association) and the Canadian Securities Institute. At the end of their three years, graduating students will have completed enough accredited professional courses to allow them to write professional designation exams.

Bajwa says most of the 40 students in the inaugural class came straight from high school, although he has some career changers and even some international students among his first class. The male-female split is about 50-50. Applicants to the program require a high school diploma, or they must qualify for mature student status. Tuition is about $2,000.

There's a common first year for Banking and Wealth Management students, Bajwa says, and they study alongside those in related programs.

That first year is "basically an overview of business," Bajwa says. Students will be introduced to such topics as business math, business communications and microeconomics. In their second year, students start taking professional courses, such as those for financial planning and mutual fund sales.

Over the three years of the program, students also have to complete three paid work placements that run eight to 12 weeks each.

Jay Flye, vice-president of sales at the Canadian Securities Institute, says, "Everyone would agree that it's (wealth management) a future growth industry." To support his view, Flye points out the CSI has relationships with more than 45 public colleges across Canada and that 43 of them teach the Canadian Securities course, or parts of it.

One of the reasons for the growing demand for professional managers is the spread of wealth, Flye says. At one time, high net worth individuals were a select group with assets above a certain amount, but over time wealth has, perhaps, become more democratic -- as anyone who owns property in Toronto can attest. And that can't be anything but good news for the Banking and Wealth Management students set to look for work in three years.