The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) is a Commonwealth entity that was established in April 2017 to set standards for the ethical conduct, educational qualifications and ongoing training of licensed financial advisers in Australia. FASEA’s powers and responsibilities are set out under the Corporations Act.
Its annual report for 2017-18 shows that during its first year in existence, FASEA paid a total of $370,641 to its nine board members.
Chairman and former KPMG executive Catherine Walter received the lion’s share with $113,042, followed by Mark Brimble ($90,522); Matthew Rowe ($33,675); Catherine Lowe ($31,332); Deborah Kent ($25,200); Michael O’Neill ($20,328); Carolyn Bond ($19,320); Steve Somogyi ($19,320); and Simon Longstaff ($17,871).
Former CEO Deen Sanders received a salary of $219,090 for his seven months in the top job from 18 September 2017 to 30 April this year.
Much of FASEA’s work over the last 12 months has been establishing its office and hiring staff. The authority also published a series of draft standards with accompanying papers explaining them. These include:
1. Draft Guidance on Code of Ethics
2. Draft Guidance on Education Pathways for all Advisers
3. Draft Guidance on the Financial Adviser Examination
4. Draft Guidance on the Professional Year
5. Draft Guidance on the Provisional Relevant Provider Term
6. Draft Guidance on Continuing Professional Development
7. Draft Guidance on Foreign Qualification
The annual report also revealed that FASEA receives “industry funding” of $3.9 million annually under a contract that expires on 30 June 2021.
“Funding was intentionally short‐term to cover the establishment of FASEA and its initial period of operation to enable it to fulfil its legislative timelines,” the report said.
“It is expected that prior to the termination of the Funding Agreement, separate arrangements will be put in place for the financial services industry as a whole to provide ongoing funding to FASEA to enable it to perform its functions under the Corporations Act beyond the expiry of this agreement.
“The industry funding provided to FASEA under the Funding Agreement is not tied. FASEA may use the funding in connection with the fulfilment of any of its prescribed statutory functions under s.921U of the Corporations Act.
“The funding is not required to be repaid.”
I’ve read some comments especially the ones saying how fair FASEA is and it’s all clear as mud. Simples. I have a double degree in Commerce and Finance from the University of Sydney. I did this whilst working in the SMSF section of an accounting firm part time and raising my disable son. Whilst working there I realised I’d like to get into financial planning come 2019/2020. However I did not do “Retirement Planning 101” and “How to hand out a FSG 102” You see the difference between my Double degree and a Degree majoring in Financial Planning was only those two subjects.
It now seems like I will have to give up my life long dream and stick to accounting. Or go back to University and do the whole thing again with some credits? Is this the case? Is it so straight forward?
Get on to the FASEA board rather and live in luxury, stress free for the rest of your life
Hey, is anybody into falcon racing here? thinking about skipping the fasea exam and the post grad study and getting into falconry instead
anybody have the same hobby ? what is a good place to start?
thinking $50k to start off. any ideas ?
speak with Terry mcmaster
why don’t we have public flogging. i think we should bring that back. any adviser caught stealing gets flogged at martin place and then tied to a tree with a big sign that says, “thief” and everyone can go and spit on them for a day.
in fact, the even better option would be tie up their whole family, mum, dad, wife as well
ASIC already do that to small and solo advisers, you know the small guys that have no chance at defending themselves or fighting back? That’s who ASIC targets and punishes and publicly names and shames – it usually happens where the adviser provides appropriate advise but forgets to put a full stop after a couple of sentences in the SOA so ASIC penalises them for “[i]making a false or misleading statement that is likely to mislead or decieve[/i]” and strips them of their right to make a living and cancels their AFS status.
I disagree with everybody here. I believe FASEA will make the adviser industry more reputable and clear out alot of the flogs that are involved in it that are only in it for money and arent willing to be studying. Low wages in my eyes. i see no problems with this at all.
your luck has run out. although you are right on so many levels. everyone in the industry disagrees with you.
another chance to become a profession will be lost
I am in favour of education standards but not the Rort associated with FAESA (and their grubby relationship with education providers). The problem is that experience and prior learning needs to count. You cannot be a financial planner without some practical experience – what you learn in a text book is only half the story!!! Just be fair and I’m happy.
why don’t you give it a go at a uni and see what RPL they give you for practical experience. me? i’m trading financial planning for falconry instead.
I thought fee for no service models were a problem? Obviously FASEA are exempt.
Disgusting!… more pigs feeding out of the trough at the expense of hard working advisers
“It is expected that prior to the termination of the Funding Agreement, separate arrangements will be put in place for the financial services industry as a whole to provide ongoing funding to FASEA to enable it to perform its functions under the Corporations Act beyond the expiry of this agreement.
I propose a “boycott”! If we simply stand together and refuse to finance this, what will they do? I bet they will not work “pro bono” for the good of the industry and consumers!!!
Agree with Anonymous re “blood-sucking fleas on a dog”. All these organisations from external dispute resolution and regulatory bodies to industry associations are all just parasites. Between them and APRA, ACCC, ASIC we (the brokers writing business) create more jobs for people incapacable of “earning a living” than Centrelink can in any year of effort. What is it that makes these poeple think that most consumers are so stupid that they cannot make intelligent “value for money” decisions themselves.
“We the Brokers” job creators of Australia……get that man a medal….
I’m sure that there are many planners in the industry who would have been happy to volunteer there time and would have arrived at a more common sense outcome by now. I have a Phd in poor grammar and can’t spell, but would have done the job for ZIP.
Just lock a a) representative from ASIC,b) One representative from a Uni with no planning course on offer, c) a rep from the private Education sector d) a rep from CPA Australia and e) five planners with a Degree, industry and University experience in a room for three days at a five star hotel and you’ve got draft proposal 1 done. It’s when you get all these vested interests like University reps, the FPA pushing their courses then that is the problem and delays.
The only thing that will save the advice industry now is CPA Australia (cough cough can’t believe i said that) and their 180,000 accountants who hopefully will apply a common sense approach.
You are so right. Any organisation that does not publish the earnings of their board etc should not be touched. See who has been appointed to run the exams. Not a good look for transparency. As with CPA who will guard the guards?
As if I needed one more reason to leave this rat infested industry in December 2020 I just found it. FASEA STILl has made no mention of specific requirements for risk specialists who do not do investment planning. Disgusts me and I am NOT sitting through a full FP exam to get full FP qualifications. The money and time away from clients and family is nowhere near worth it and is an insult to all risk specialists. It is analogous to a GP having to be examined under a brain surgeon’s exam – abjectly ridiculous overkill these latest exam/degree requirements for older risk advisers.
The FASEA exam & quals requirements gets you to be a GP, if you want to be a brain surgeon than you can go off & specialise. Your analogy makes no sense.
he or she doesn’t even know what an analogy is that is why he or she is fretting the exam. other terms in the exam you might want to google beforehand, literally, figuratively, metaphor, oxymoron.
Please note that after all of these costs and time all we have so far are 7 Draft Guidance statements as shown above. We have no definitive realistic statements on what is going to be required from both existing and new advisers going forward.
Nothing on what is supposed to be studied to complete the waste of time exam which covers nothing to do with what advisers actually do when providing advice to clients.
This has been nothing but a complete bureaucratic stuff up lead by a bunch of academics who have never been in from of real clients.
There is no way this is going to be in place by the dates set down in the legislation by the useless previous Minister for Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer.
More costs to us as advisers, at what benefit to our clients. Stuff all.
All I can say is God help the next generation of adviser.
For all those “anonymous” posters, if you don’t have the guts to give you name then you are no better than the trolls on Facebook. Grow a backbone and own you opinions or don’t post at all.
“Hey guys thanks for the 300k, ill get back to you at the end of 2019… make sure you dont forget my second cheque for 300k when i do”
By 1 January 2019 new advisers have to meet certain requirements. If you contact FASEA through their online inquiry form they refuse to tell you what those requirements are! If you want to call them to discuss it, you can’t since they don’t have a number! The proposed education is a 3-year degree, there are less than 2 months until new entrants require this unclear 3-year degree! How can anyone make plans or decisions with such a time frame!
there’s already a list of approved degrees offered by a multitude of universities or tertiary education providers. If you’re too dumb to have found them, should you really be allowed to provide advice to clients?
Look Mark B- you should stop these posts!
I wonder why a factual comment gets a handful of thumbs down, while an uninformed rant gets approval & support?
It’s interesting that the very same people who are complaining about the need to improve their education standards, cant actually do a bit of simple research to find that there are degrees currently approved & available.
Jimmy, as it stands, the “facts” overall have been quite fluid. The deadlines, on the other hand, are concrete.
Check this out. 9 pages listing all the currently approved degrees
https://www.fasea.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/FAS_20181017_Approved-Programs-.pdf
Sure. Now check this out. Then you wonder why advisers are frustrated. Maybe you’re right, we should be with brimming with confidence.
(I’m not having a go at you for sharing the approved programs list for those who plan to enter FP. Good on you for doing so. I’m just having a go at the muppets who say the facts are clear. For the rest of us, it is as clear as mud).
https://www.fasea.gov.au/guidance-note-graduate-diploma-qualifications/
Guidance Note: Graduate Diploma Qualifications
The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA)confirms there are NO APPROVED AQF 8 graduate diplomas available for the purposes of 921B(2)(a) of the Corporations Act.
https://www.fasea.gov.au/guidance-note-approved-courses-and-programs/
Guidance Note – Approved Courses and Programs
Following a number of queries from market participants, FASEA has obtained confirmation from several education providers that they recently released materials that incorrectly indicated they had FASEA approved courses and programs.
Isn’t it nice that the snouts in the trough are the biggest advocates of the education and compliance issues. THANKS FPA, YOU really have shafted your members with a huge pineapple. Would the last FPA member who hasn’t pulled their head out of the sand please turn off the lights.
Chairman and former KPMG executive Catherine Walter received the lion’s share with $113,042 million
Surely a typo
Oink, Oink…Oink!
What is this “industry funding” of $3.9 million? Who the hell is paying them and what are they getting in return? This organisation has the potential to destroy my career and ruin my business. They should not get running around, cap in hand to ‘industry’ offering special favours. This is wrong on many levels. At the very least we need to see exactly who is paying them. If I find out they are getting paid by the banks, life insurance companies, industry funds or educational institutions I will spew up. None of them give a stuff about my clients or our profession. They all have their own selfish agendas. FASEA has now descended into a complete and utter farce.
[quote=Anonymous]That actually seems reasonable given the scope of the job. Do you want these people to work for nothing? See what you get then.[/quote]
I don’t want them there, full stop!
I agree – FASEA and all the knobs on the payroll and all the stake holders (ASIC, LIF) can take a long walk off a short pier!
They’re delivering nothing so why not. They redefined the word “draft”.
[quote=Anonymous]didnt take long and already we have a raft of haters on the bandwagon….[/quote]
What’s your name then?
I keep putting it on the comments but it never appears. Anyway, what does my name matter? The content of my post hit the bullseye, as evidenced by the number of people on here venting their collective spleen….
Why is Amelia Constantinidis the Director of Professional Standards at FASEA?
More useless than t*ts on a man
Not a necessary comment. Stick to the issues please.
Useless…
She’s an intellignet and educated person but I don’t think of professional standards when I think of her, I think of AMP and CBA…say no more!
Specify the “education” please. i see no FP qualifications whatsoever on the LI profile – and no advice experience either.
Take a look at her Linkedin profile, she has misspelled her employer’s name! She works at “[b]Fnancial [/b]Adviser standards and Ethics Authority”.
This is not good! How does a person with no FP qualifications and no advice experience get to be Director of Standards at FASEA?
“Stick close to your desk, and never go to Sea
and they’ll make you the Ruler of the Queen’s Navy”
FASEA are nothing more than blood-sucking fleas on a dog – they will suck more money out of this fledgling industry with THEIR “financial services industry funding model” that we will have no say in so they can help themselves to huge salaries and make unfair and damaging rulings against the very same businesses that are funding them, not to mention all of the additional and unfair loading of red tape, compliance and stupid qualifications/degrees and PHd’s that risk advisers will have to go thru such as SMSF & Centrelink planning even when such advise doesn’t fall under the risk advisers license/service offering – and then they will have all advisers complete a national exam that will be designed to fail 99% of advisers sitting it and charge more each year for the “priveledge” of setting such adviser standards.
That actually seems reasonable given the scope of the job. Do you want these people to work for nothing? See what you get then.
So what do you believe a Financial Planner should get a in 7 month period?
Whatever you charge?! You are not entitled to a guaranteed salary. Like a self employed lawyer you get paid what you charge your client for the service they are willing to pay you for. Seems pretty simple.
I don’t want them to work at all! What’s wrong with you?!!! They are blood sucking self-absorbed leeches!
What should an Adviser earning in a 12 month period?
An adviser should earn what they and their client agree the fee to be for a delivered outcome. Unless you have a communist agenda, which is the way Australia seems to be going with regard to free enterprise and over regulation and think advisers should all be paid the same, then your comment has no relevance. The issue here is that we have a tax payer funded “think tank” that is highly conflicted that has failed to deliver any outcomes to date, despite a legislated clock that has been ticking for a long time now.
Yes work fro nothing just like they want adviser to.
“SNAFU” situation normal all F***** up
how about earning your money and telling us who we can study with so we can get on with all the crap we have to
2 board members with close ties to the FPA, hmmm.
Was there draft written about how to send experience advisers to the sword and make a killing financially at the same time?
Unfortunately, as a result of all the upheaval LIF, annual ASIC Funding Fee Levies, Tax Practitioner Board fees, diminishing adviser remuneration levels and sledgehammer education requirements have put me and other advisers under the last few years, I wouldn’t have made $219,000 in the last 2 years – let alone in 7 months!!!! This is wrong on so many levels….
This is what worries me, this is yet another fee we will need to pay, dont they realise there will come a time when we just all say stuff it, and they will be left with no one to fund them? Im already thinking about just offering educational advice, or be a wealth coach, ill call myself the bullhand investor. Same office just ditch the dearship, sure I cant take ongoing payments from products or mention them individually but so what, no soas, no dealership fees, no tpb fees, no pi insurance, no asic levy, no software fees, the list goes on..
Seems they will have their way then, with the industry funds then taking over… Seems that’s the agenda on so many levels….
how about a hunger strike? 30 days c’mon who is with me.? so far, i only got 2 others the last time i pitched it. we can sit in front of the nsw parliament. need at least 50 people
let’s get the momentum happening on this one. maybe adele ferguson will come and visit and have sympathy for us.
– TPB Levy
– Professional membership levy
– ASIC levy
– Code monitoring levy
– AFCA levy
Have I missed any levies? We need more levies!
Where’d the funding come from?
Establishing an office where? There is no email or phone number listed for them.
You didn’t report on the high expenses incurred in travel costs.
How can I get a gig with them to sit on a board, do nothing and get paid – actually sorry, wreak havoc, increase peoples stress levels, provide funding to Uni’s and get paid.
Sounds like a Fee for no service model
Hahahaha!!! Too funny . . . if it wasn’t so true. Hypocritical FASEA, that’s the catch-cry. These people should be ashamed of themselves.
Stress is a major issue. How is this impacting people’s lives? You question yourself everyday because someone with a checklist tells you you are no good at your job. All it will take is 1 person to do the unthinkable and even then no one will listen.
And the best part! there’s no write back (LOL)
Only in Aust… the masters of creating over paid govt jobs… what value do they add to the industry?
So it’s in their best interest to drag this out and make it as complicated as possible. Meanwhile good people are leaving in droves (along with a few bad ones who’ll rebrand themselves as dealing with wholesale clients only). nice one.
“wealth coach”
And….?? Just waiting for the haters to start hating….
Maybe they’ll leave their names this time.
I doubt it Werner, however i do note that the “financial services industry” will provide funding, so there goes another couple of $$$$ out of an advisors profit line (from an already diminishing pool). This should be a tax-payer levy not based on industry.
didnt take long and already we have a raft of haters on the bandwagon….
yes.. there will be.. but would you expect when they have no regard for the people in this profession… if they weren’t so arrogant I’m sure that there we would be more positive towards them. Not to mention the conflicts that they have in pushing through herds of people through the fat cat education system. Respect goes 2 ways!
why don’t you name yourself you lover
put your name down in your comment and explain your statement.
An Academic. that explains everything!