Guide to Applicants

Applications should only be made by individuals. Applications from companies or organisations will not be accepted. For each application,

1. The applicant must be:
   1. a Hong Kong resident and lawfully employable in Hong Kong; AND either:
   2. a full-time in-service practitioner on the commencement date of the course attended, who is not required to be working in the field of asset and wealth management, employed under any of the following:
      1. a financial institution licensed with or registered by the Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap.571); or
      2. a financial institution licensed with or registered by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”); or
      3. an insurer authorised or any insurance intermediaries licensed under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41); or
      4. a firm or corporate practices registered with Accounting and Financial Reporting Council (“AFRC”); or
      5. a trust company registered under Part 8 of the Trustee Ordinance (Cap. 29) or any trustees approved by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (“MPFA”) under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485); or
      6. a trust or company service provider licensed by the Companies Registry under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615); or
      7. a recruitment agency engaged by any of the employers mentioned in clause 1.2.1 to 1.2.6 above to provide personnel; or
      8. a member company of a group of which at least one of the subsidiaries is an eligible employer in clause 1.2.1 to 1.2.6 above; OR
   3. an individual who is not under full-time employment at the time of attending the courses but previously has been licensed and employed in the manner as below at any time during the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025:
      1. a licensed individual in full-time employment with a Financial Institution licensed by the SFC; or
      2. a licensed securities staff in full-time employment with an authorised institutions registered with the HKMA; or
      3. a licensed individual insurance agents / Technical Representatives (Agent) / Technical Representatives (Broker); or
      4. a certified public accountant registered with the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants ("HKICPA") and in full-time employment with a firm or corporate practice registered with the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council ("AFRC").
2. An exemption from the full-time employment requirement under clause 1.2.3 above will ONLY be granted to the following practitioners from 1 April 2020 onwards:
   
   - Licensed Individual Insurance Agents
   - Licensed Technical Representatives (Agent)
   - Licensed Technical Representatives (Broker)
   
   

   Such type of qualified applicant has to be an insurance intermediary licensed by the Insurance Authority ("IA") where the Principal is an insurer authorised or an insurance intermediary licensed under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41).
   
   Additional information may be required to prove the contractual relationship between the applicant and the principal.

3. The applicant must have completed the eligible course to the course provider’s satisfaction.
4. The applicant must not have received any other form of subsidy or financial assistance for the 80% of the course fees to be reimbursed under the Scheme from any publicly-funded schemes and/or the applicant’s employer.
5. The applicants are required to switch the camera on throughout the class for live webinars.

6. The applicant shall conform in all respects with all legislation, regulations and by-laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.  The Government and/or the HKSI Institute reserves the right to terminate all or any part of the funding support, and claw back any funding disbursed to the applicant on the occurrence of any of the following events:

    

   (a)  the applicant has engaged or is engaging in acts or activities that are likely to constitute or cause the occurrence of
         offences endangering national security or that would otherwise be contrary to the interest of national security; or

   (b)  the Government and/or HKSI Institute reasonably believes that any of the events mentioned in paragraph (a) above is
         about to occur.

Eligible applicant will be reimbursed 80% of course fees upon satisfactory completion of eligible courses, subject to a cap of $15,000 per person for the entire duration of the Pilot Programme (i.e. from 1 October 2016 to 31 March 2026). Each applicant can apply for reimbursement for more than one course. Duplicated applications for the same course will not be accepted. 

Only the fees incurred for enrolling in eligible course(s) under the Scheme can be reimbursed, including face-to-face courses and seminars, live webinars (pre-recorded seminars/webinars are not included), as well as certain designated e-courses.

Other charges such as registration fees, administration fees, examination fees, late charges or any other miscellaneous charges are not eligible for reimbursement.

All applications for reimbursement will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis, until the funding for the Scheme has been fully committed.

Applications shall be submitted via the online application portal. Procedures are as follows:

1. Fill out all necessary information, including personal, course and employment details at the online application portal.
2. Upload the following FOUR supporting documents to the online application portal:
   1. the certificate of attendance issued by the course provider certifying that the applicant has completed the course to the satisfaction of the course provider;
   2. the receipt of the course fee payment issued by the course provider (with name of applicant, name of the course attended and course date);
   3. personal bank account document for direct credit of reimbursement which can be:
      - the front page of bank passbook; or
      - the bank account statement; or
      - bank debit card; or
      - blank personal cheque.
      
      (Note: The bank account document must clearly show the name of the bank, the account number and the name of the account holder which must be identical to the name shown on the applicant’s Hong Kong Identity Card.)
      
      
   4. employment certification form / company letter duly signed with company’s chop stamped
      1. Applicable to in-service practitioners currently under employment
         
         Print the employment certification form* which can be downloaded through the online application platform, OR obtain a company letter [a sample company letter can be downloaded HERE] issued by the applicant’s employer. The employment certification form or company letter should be duly signed by authorised signatory of the employer with the employer’s company chop clearly-stamped, certifying that:
         
         
         1. the applicant is in full-time employment with the employer on the commencement date of the course attended; and
         2. the applicant has not received any form of subsidy or financial assistance from the employer for the 80% of the course fees to be reimbursed under the Scheme.
      2. Applicable to financial service licensees in between jobs (i.e. not in full-time employment during attending the eligible courses)
         
            2.4.2.1  an employment verification letter from the last employer; and
            
            2.4.2.2. the applicant's licence / registration number given by the relevant authority
                         (i.e. SFC, HKMA, IA, MPF, AFRC or HKICPA). 
      * Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the employment certification form generated via the system as their       employment proof for the application.
3. Review the information and uploaded documents prior to online submission
4. After submitting the online application, an acknowledgement email with a unique system-generated application number (PTxxxxxxxxx) will be sent to the applicant’s email account.
5. Print out the completed application form and sign on Section C & Annex A. Wet signature is required.
6. Submit a copy of Hong Kong Identity Card and the printed application form with Section C & Annex A duly signed by post / by courier / in person to the HKSI Institute’s office.

Reminders:

Applicant shall complete the online application form and upload the required supporting documents, and submit the printed application form with Section C & Annex A duly signed and a copy of the Hong Kong Identity Card to the HKSI Institute’s office within FOUR months from the course end date*. 

The date of application refers to:

(1) the submission date of the completed online application form with all required supporting documents uploaded;and

(2) the date of receipt of the hard copy documents (i.e. printed application form with Section C & Annex A duly signed and
     Hong Kong Identity Card copy) by the HKSI Institute,
     

whichever is the latest but within four months from the course end date.

Late or incomplete application will not be accepted. 

*Note:

For example, if the course end date is 10 May 2024, then the deadline is 9 September 2024. If the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the deadline will be extended to the next working day. Different course providers may have different definitions of course end date.  Applicants shall check with the corresponding course provider(s) for clarification where necessary.

Payment will be made to the successful applicant by direct credit to the local bank account^ nominated by the applicant.

^ Savings account or current account denominated in Hong Kong Dollar or accepts transactions in Hong Kong dollars.