FAAA backs ASIC warning over adviser education deadline

There has been a considerable drop in the amount of advisers at risk of failing to meet the education requirements, with the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) saying that ASIC records show the figure has halved since June.

Under the education requirements, relevant providers who are also existing providers and who do not meet the qualifications standard by 1 January 2026 will not be able to provide financial advice.

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Given the recent ASIC warning that 2,326 are potentially still on the chopping block, however, FAAA general manager policy, advocacy and standards Phil Anderson said the association been working closely with ASIC.

“We have recently contacted impacted members and licensees about ensuring that ASIC Connect has been updated to reflect qualifications going towards the qualification standard, and to remind qualifying experienced advisers to complete the declaration and have it processed by their licensee,” he said.

Anderson said that there are a range of common issues that the FAAA has noted, including advisers who have not flagged which pathway they intend to use, while there are also advisers intending to use the experience pathway whose date first provided advice is later than January 2012 and/ or who did not pass the Financial Adviser Exam before the cutoff, which is late October 2022.

He added that there are also advisers who flagged they do not intend to use the experience pathway, however their qualifications do not appear to be sufficient.

“Several members who we recently contacted were unaware they might have an issue until they received our email,” Phil Anderson, general manager of policy, advocacy and standards said.

“ASIC has created a webpage with detailed information on how to update the register, which also includes a link to the temporary dataset.

“Time is running out fast to resolve this. We urge advisers to double check their ASIC record and contact their licensee urgently if updates are required.”

Earlier this week, ASIC delivered its “final warning” for financial advisers that are yet to meet the education requirements on the Financial Adviser Register.

AFSLs are responsible to ensuring the records are both accurate and up to date on the FAR, and ASIC said their AFSL “should consider ceasing their authorisation on or before 31 December 2025 to avoid consequences to the existing provider status”.

“In accordance with the legislation, if the relevant providers remain authorised and their authorisation ceases by operation of law on 1 January 2026, they will be required to compete a professional year and obtain an approved degree or equivalent qualification set out in Schedule 1 of the Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021 before they can provide personal advice to retail clients again,” the regulator said.

“They will be unable to meet the qualifications standard by accessing the existing provider pathways as set out in Part 3 of the determination.”

In the update, the regulator said that, as of 20 November, there were 15,469 relevant providers on the FAR. Of these, AFS licensees have notified ASIC that 7,959 hold an approved degree or qualification, 4,212 are relying on the experienced provider pathway, and 972 are recorded as holding both an approved degree or qualification and relying on the experienced provider pathway

“The remaining 2,326 relevant providers have yet to meet the qualifications standard according to the information currently recorded on the Financial Advisers Register,” ASIC said.

“Of this cohort, 836 may be eligible for the experienced provider pathway, but their AFS licensees are yet to notify ASIC of this.”

It added that 827 relevant providers who are also existing providers, unless exempt, will need to complete the specified courses in commercial law and taxation law to continue to provide tax (financial) advice services from 1 January 2026.