902 Pass the 76th Financial Planner Exam... Financial Supervisory Service Director Also Took and Passed

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] The Korea FPSB, the international certified financial planner (CFP) certification body, announced on the 18th that 902 candidates passed the 76th AFPK qualification exam held on the 29th of last month.

The total number of applicants for this exam was 3,738, an increase of 781 (26.4%) compared to the May exam (2,957). By sector, the distribution was university students (52.5%), general (19.7%), banking (10.9%), insurance (6.9%), securities (2.5%), and financial planning (2.5%).

Jeon Sangwon (24), a student at Incheon National University, earned the honor of top scorer, while Son Jeongbin (21, female) from Sookmyung Women’s University, Kim Jeongyun (21, female) from Sungshin Women’s University, and Lee Juhee (21, female) from Kookmin Bank were named the youngest passers. Lee Heejae (60) from the National Pension Service was the oldest passer.

This exam attracted attention to the financial planning certification as a current director at the Financial Supervisory Service passed with an excellent score within the top 20. Additionally, due to the tightening of recruitment in financial companies and the shift to non-face-to-face hiring methods, there were many university student applicants, who accounted for 64% of all passers, according to Korea FPSB.

Kim Yonghwan, Chairman of Korea FPSB, said, “Not only do financial companies prefer AFPK and CFP certificate holders when hiring new employees, but more companies are also supporting education fees for current employees to obtain the certification and awarding additional points in personnel evaluations to certificate holders. As the importance of financial planning has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interest in the certification is also rising.”