ASIC has reminded financial advisers that the July exam (cycle 18) will be the “last chance” for advisers who are eligible for the 1 October 2022 extension to sit and pass the exam.
Advisers who do not pass the July sitting will be required to stop providing personal advice to retail clients from 1 October 2022 and their Australian financial services licensee will need to revoke their authorisation to provide personal advice on or before 30 September 2022 for the adviser to retain their status as an existing provider.
Enrolment for the July exams close at 11.59pm on Tuesday, 12 July.
“Financial advisers who lose their status as an existing provider will be treated as a new financial adviser,” ASIC said.
“New financial advisers must meet additional education requirements, including completing the professional year, before they can be re-authorised to provide personal advice.”
The exam will be held from Thursday, 28 July to Monday, 1 August 2022.
It comes after ASIC revealed that 42.7 per cent of the 496 advisers that sat the 17th financial advisers exam in May passed, while 72.2 per cent of candidates were resitting the May exam for at least the second time.
Unsuccessful candidates are set to receive general feedback from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to highlight the curriculum areas where they have underperformed.
To date, 20,000 candidates have sat the exam, with the passing rate now at 91 per cent. The corporate regulator noted that this demonstrates “they have the skills to apply their knowledge of advice construction, ethics and legal requirements to the practical scenarios tested in the exam”.
Of those who have passed:
- Over 15,600 are recorded as current financial advisers on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register (FAR), representing 93 per cent of current advisers on the FAR.
- Over 2,400 are ceased advisers on the FAR and may be re-authorised in the future.
- Over 600 were new to the industry.
- Over 3,250 unsuccessful candidates have re-sat the exam, with 68 per cent passing at a re-sit.
Unfortunately passing an exam does not make you ethical. The industry has lost a significant number of highly ethical and extremely competent advisers who thrive in honest interpersonal relationships but struggle with the more modern form of examining and testing. There is no doubt the industry needed professional recognition. Congratulations to those who have passed but I do not feel that makes one able to judge the suitability of the exam for all students. I was fortunate to pass first time but understand why some have not and still struggle to do so. We are losing some amazing advisers the industry could not afford to loose, not because they are unethical but because under exam pressure they struggle. Compassion and empathy are just as, if not more critical characteristics required to be a successful adviser. They are valued by the consumer. They too cannot be attained by passing an exam.
Four years to sit an exam,… that you had multiple attempts at. ba ha ha.. Sounds like the Government have been very supportive, and accommodating.ba ha ha..yet you want more Carve outs? As someone sitting the exam in December 2019 I can attest we’ve managed to turn some benchmark the industry could have been proud of, from which we could have built on, and spent the last 2 years focusing on other issues… into some mere “get the CBA out of jail exercise” making it the complete box-ticking, waste of time we all knew it was for all parties.
Four years notice and multiple opportunities to resit the exam – the regulator has been more than fair. If you can’t pass under those conditions you need to show respect to the advisers who have done the right thing and exit gracefully.