Our financial coach certification

Our financial coach training programme equips people to become certified financial coaches with Claro Wellbeing.

The training programme provides all the financial services product knowledge and coach training professionals need in order to gain the essential skills of a financial coach. It has been independently accredited by The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), meaning it is recognised as being high quality by a renowned institution.

The course, which comprises six modules, provides coaches with an understanding of Claro Wellbeing’s vision, the role of a Claro Wellbeing financial coach, financial services and financial product knowledge, and coaching skills. Completion of the programme typically requires 100 hours of study, over a number of weeks. The programme also includes peer-to-peer training sessions.

All new coaches must pass a final assessment to receive their certification and become a financial coach with Claro Wellbeing.

Learning and development does not stop once a coach successfully completes the training programme. After being awarded their certification, financial coaches must meet a minimum of 35 Continuing Professional Development hours per year to remain certified. We continually invest resources to ensure financial coaches continually build on their skills. 

“Financial coaching is a platform that can change lives by guiding people through the practicalities of their finances, inspiring them to reach their goals and also offering the support required to better their financial wellbeing.”

Abby Birch, Financial Coach at Claro Wellbeing

Why we created the training programme

1. To define what the financial services industry means by financial coach

As the financial coaching market continues to grow, we think it is important that the industry defines clearly what truly high-quality standards mean in financial coaching services.

So, in creating our programme, our mission was to create an independently accredited training programme that sets an industry benchmark for financial coaching.

That’s exactly what we’ve achieved. And through a comprehensive suite of modules, our training programme enables new coaches to develop all the essential skills of a professional financial coach.

In doing so, we’re helping the wider industry by setting a new standard for designing and implementing training programmes that ensure reliable, high-quality learning outcomes.

2. To proactively put consumers first, while democratising financial guidance

Those who’ve had financial advice tend to be better off than those who haven’t – according to FT Adviser, that can be by as much as £40,000. 

Yet financial advisers generally only work with people who have £100,000 to invest for five years or more. Currently, only around 6% of people in the UK can afford financial advice.

That puts a huge number of people at a disadvantage. Around 44 million UK adults are underserved. This is known as the “Financial Advice Gap”.

That’s why Claro Wellbeing is making financial guidance available to everyone through digital financial coaching.

But while financial advisers are currently regulated in the UK, financial coaches are not. So, we’ve had our financial coach training programme independently accredited by The London Institute of Banking & Finance, which was established in 1879 and is today one of the most prestigious educational institutions in financial services.

Our training programme has been accredited by LIBF because:

• It meets or exceeds LIBF’s high-quality standards
• Training material is the appropriate size, depth and level
• We offer learning support by experienced and competent trainers, in an appropriate environment
• We have robust management policies and procedures and commit to ongoing monitoring, review and improvement

3. To establish a minimum-quality guarantee across Claro Wellbeing’s service

We’re committed to keeping Claro Wellbeing’s high-quality service consistent.

The first step to achieving this is to ensure all incoming financial coaches at Claro Wellbeing are trained with the same industry-pioneering training programme and monitored regularly for quality and compliance purposes.

Our team of financial coaches are all employed by the company and work as one team. We believe it’s important that all our financial coaches are able to continuously benefit from each others’ learnings, improve each others’ knowledge and, in turn, improve the experiences of our customers.

As of June 2022, our approach to training and managing our financial coaches has meant we’ve averaged 4.8/5 stars across almost 350 reviews.

“Supporting our financial coaches to be the very best they can be through our internal training programme is a major milestone for Claro Wellbeing. A financial coach should have expert financial knowledge, along with high-quality coaching skills that empower people to improve their relationship with finances. Our comprehensive training programme delivers this and will help create and maintain a high standard of financial coaching in the industry.”

Rachel Harte, Head of Financial Planning at Claro Wellbeing