Competent Advise Status (CAS)
A competent adviser is basically a mortgage adviser who has completed their exams, received training, received coaching and regular observation from a senior professional in the industry and has been confirmed to be competent to offer independent financial advice to clients without requiring supervision.
Competent Adviser Status (CAS) is something that every newly qualified mortgage adviser will have to achieve.
CAS status is the company deeming the adviser competent to provide sound advice to clients and submit mortgage applications and relevant protection without requiring supervision.
A newly qualified advisers will be supervised by a senior adviser to gain their CAS status, helping them build their knowledge of the job role and also gain confidence to complete the tasks they will face throughout a typical day. There is no formal qualification to obtain your full CAS status sign off, this is a on the job training and each company will have their own guidelines and criteria to sign you off.
How to get CAS?
In order to obtain CAS, you need to have completed and signed off a number of cases that pass regulation checks from your company or organisation. This is obtained when there is a succession successful cases achieved with the advisor would have to build up a streak of cases at a high level. They are normally Graded on a A, B C D or Red, amber, green system.
What skills are tested when getting CAS?
This is a tricky subject to comment on as there is no single checklist of requirements tested when looking to obtain CAS and there are different factors that contribute toward gaining CAS status. A handful of examples may be:
Grammar, punctuation and spelling – This may sound obvious, but your grammar punctuation and spelling will all contribute to your validity when making advice. You will not receive praise for getting it right but you will be penalised for making errors.
Effectively following compliance –This is one of the most important factors when looking to obtain CAS, if there are compliance issues, this is a major red flag for companies/ managers. If you have compliance errors this will restart any positive cases you have head doubling the time it takes to obtain CAS.
Your knowledge – The core purpose of your job is to provide advice to clients and as such your knowledge should be at a high level. It is your responsibility to update yourself with the latest industry insights in order to provide your clients with the most relevant advice possible
Analytical skills – You will need to analyse people and their situations, asking questions like; “What is this person’s risk tolerance?” and “How can I most appropriately meet their financial goals?”More implicit skills that will not help you gain CAS but will help you become a better advisor are:
Sales and promotion – At the end of the day, all advisors are sales-people and aim to build up a sizeable client bank to service. As such your sales and promotional skills will need to be at a high level in order to effectively carry out your duties.
Interpersonal skills – As an advisor, it is your role to effectively communicate with people and as such build relationships with your clients. Therefore it is important that you can demonstrate this in your work, although it may not be directly assessed it will make your role a lot easier.