Under the final legislative instrument, FASEA has reduced the reading time for the exam to 15 minutes within a total 3.5-hour sitting period, FASEA said in a statement.
Under the draft instrument, the proposed reading time for the exam was 30 minutes.
FASEA also clarified that exam content under the topic of Financial Adviser Regulatory and Legal Requirements will cover the Tax Agents Services Act (TASA) only and not broader requirements of the Tax Practitioners Board.
Further, FASEA said it will also consider the addition of further exam centres in 2020 for relevant providers sitting the exam in regional areas, depending on adviser interest and availability of facilities.
The legislative instrument was informed through consultation received in 26 submissions during the final consultation process in December 2018 and January 2019.
In December, FASEA appointed the Australian Council for Educational Research to deliver the exam, which will cover topics including financial advice regulatory and legal obligations, applied ethical and professional reasoning, and financial advice construction.
The exam will be conducted in a range of capital and regional centres. It will attract a fee of $540 excluding GST per student.
Still don’t understand the logic that by 2024 everyone needs to have quals at the new standards has to complete a test and then be retested.
I am more concerned that the exam just became 15 minutes longer. 3 hours 15 minutes is a long time to be sitting a stressful exam. personally i don’t like searching for info on a computer and would much rather look it up in a hard copy book. plus you will have to look up the answer to some questions and then get out that page and go back to the exam. I believe a lot of advisers will struggle with this exam.
Here’s a comment I left a few days ago on the ‘Adviser Ratings’ site. I don’t think many of us read things there or go there so I’m pasting it here. It is about this ludicrous exam – the financial planner/investment planner exam they are forcing RISK ADVISERS to do in 2020. Please comment and help me understand this better if you can. Cheers . . .
.
[i]”I’m 58 years old. I dearly loved our ‘once great’ industry and never wanted to stop what I do – helping and protecting my clients. I’ve been advising and helping clients for 34 years. Come end of 2020 the ‘powers that be’ would have you believe I am no longer capable of helping families with income protection, life, TPD or trauma cover – as I have done for 34 years quite successfully without a hard word or complaint from a client yet – especially the hundreds with whom I’ve helped claim. The ‘powers that be’ are insisting I must get a degree and be able to help clients now, with knowledge about international currency markets, Contracts For Difference (CD’s), derivatives, trade balances and any one of another dozen complex financial subjects that fully qualified investment planners need to know. The ‘powers that be’ in their infinite wisdom think this knowledge will help me help my clients learn about insurances better. I don’t react or do well under the pressures of exams and I find I don’t learn as well as I once did. This doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten anything important that I need to help protect my clients. I see things pretty simply, as I know many other ‘risk-only’ advisers do. People like me and my colleagues around my age love our clients and we feel the sentiment is mutual. We planned to be helping our precious client until health failed us – probably out past 70 for me. However, ‘the powers that be’ have made it so that we must leave the industry in late 2020 (age 59 for me) because we don’t know all the complex calculus and investment knowledge of the investment planners. makes as much sense as having doctors forced to do lawyer exams. If you can see the sense in any of this please comment here. Maybe I’m missing something . . .”[/i]
Insult to injury . . .(the exam) “It will attract a fee of $540 excluding GST per student.” On TOP of a billion buck is for a risk advisers unnecessary new degree. This is straight from Abbot and Costello days. Self interested parasites all . . . this WILL negatively impact advisers ability to give attention to ‘client best interest’. Do you thiunk FARCIA, ASIC, AFA, FPA et al care about client best interest. Evidence is overwhelmingly NO! They should be ashamed of themselves and reconnect with advisers (yep, my pipe dream).
I reject the notion of being dragooned into a useless exam by some KWANGO and then being expected to pay for it , whilst at the same time losing valuable coalface time which means lost billable hours. I have lawyered up so stand by for a full on challenge to this rubbish idea
Tell us Chris…what can we do? So we can all start the rebellion! I have 10 points according to the 2 points per qual…but not qualified enough.
If you care to read the exam standard set out by FASEA, in particlar Subsections 10(5) to (9) regarding equipment. “Candidates must complete an exam using a computer provided by the exam administrator… this computer will enable access to statutory materials and materials published by ASIC and other relevant regulators, as specified by the Authority.” Really defeats the whole “reading time”.
If the technology exists for regional people to sit the exam digitally why can’t everyone?
Why do they say regional centers when there is only one listed – Townsville. Hopefully some more regional centres can be added for 2020.
…isn’t Townsville under water?
Too soon……
Is the Storm financial building still standing ???
Cutting edge thinking here. Reading time? The better universities did away with that decades ago. Completely pointless to have students sitting with the exam paper in front of them but unable to start answering for fifteen minutes. Just start the exam.
Somebody is making money.
No one is making money. No One will waste their time on this rubbish. Existing advisers will become money coaches or operate under general advice.
Very few students will complete year 12 and decide to do a financial planner course, especially after how horribly we are portrayed in the media. They may do a commerce degree however they will not go back for 2 more years on top of that to be a financial planner, especially when we cannot get paid for the work we do.
No one ever, ever, ever ever, ever will finish a 3 year university course and decide to become an insurance adviser. Especially when we dont get paid commissions.