GBA/RPA 3

Please note: GBA/RPA 3 is being extensively revised. It is anticipated that new course materials will be available in the first quarter 2025 and will be tested on starting April 15, 2025. The following course information applies until the March 15, 2025 testing window deadline.

Students who are interested in purchasing study materials and testing in the current testing window (January 1 – March 15, 2025) should contact the Customer Service Team at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (888-334-3327, option 1).

(Updated July 2023)

Sponsors do not make decisions about their benefit and retirement plans in a vacuum. They are influenced by their “context”—various factors, conditions and circumstances in their environment. This course looks at two factors in the plan environment that impact most plan sponsors—the compensation system and the social security system. Benefit plans, regardless of type, are typically developed within the constraints and opportunities inherent in the sponsor’s chosen compensation strategy and in the constraints and opportunities inherent in government-sponsored benefit programs provided through Canada’s social security system. GBA/RPA3 also introduces tools for building contextual knowledge. Decision making and risk management models and processes explore how awareness of thinking processes and their resulting biases can improve professional effectiveness in a range of plan contexts and benefits roles. Theory-based readings are supported with industry-developed models and guidelines.

Topics Covered

• Optimizing Social Programs in Planning for Retirement and Health Security
• Understanding How Behavioural Economics Impacts Decision Making
• Optimizing the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan (CPP/QPP) for Income Security
• Applying Behavioural Economics Tools to Improve Decision Making
• Optimizing Canada's Social Security System-Employment Insurance and Workers’ Compensation
• Thinking Through a Risk Management Lens
• Optimizing Canada's Social Security System--Health Care
• Establishing Risk Governance and Culture
• Driving Plan Sponsor Strategy With Reward and Compensation Systems
• Integrating Risk Management Into Strategy Setting and Execution
• Driving Behaviour With Reward and Compensation Systems
• Optimizing Risk Communication, Reporting and Monitoring to Improve Decision Making