Kaplan launches platform to help ‘fast-track’ industry talent

The Financial Adviser Accelerator Suite comes as the profession grapples with a workforce shortage and accessibility issues.

According to Kaplan, the suite is a “dynamic, interactive program that blends real-world learning with structured development, offering significant benefits for both advisers and licensees”.

The program will focus in interactive, scenario-based modules, which Kaplan states have no industry equivalent.

The program will be structured around four “key knowledge pillars”: fundamentals of advice, client care in financial advice, client engagement in financial advice and quality processes.

Currently there are five topics available – Mastering the art of strategic client meetings, achieving personal and professional goals through effective teamwork, launching your financial advice career, navigating ethical dilemmas in financial advice, and taking the risk out of compliance. Kaplan said it plans to have 20 available by the end of the year.

“The Accelerator Suite is not just educational, it is transformational,” said Kaplan Professional chief executive Brian Knight.

"Our initiative is designed to establish a clear and structured entry pathway into financial advice, running concurrently with the Professional Year, to accelerate the development of practical knowledge and skills, bringing the profession into alignment with other well-established fields.”

Kaplan also highlighted the benefits of the suite for licensees and employees, emphasising its potential to facilitate faster onboarding, reduce training costs, and the creation of a “pipeline of talent that is client-ready, culturally aligned and future-focused”.

Knight added: “This is about building a stronger, more sustainable financial advice profession.

“We listened to what the industry needed – confident, capable and client-ready professionals – and built a solution we thinks delivers exactly that.”

The Suite’s topics will also be accessible through the FAAA’s upcoming Financial Advice Academy, and is expected to be completed concurrently with a new advisers professional year.

The news follows Kaplan’s June announcement that it will run a six-week intensive study period to help get advisers who have not yet met the education requirements over the line.

Kicking off on 11 August, Kaplan will run an accelerated course alongside two regular intakes ahead of the deadline amid significant demand from licensees and advisers.

Financial advisers will have until 1 January 2026 to meet the qualification standards in the Corporations Act by either completing an approved or equivalent qualification or by utilising the 10-year experience pathway.

As such, Kaplan said the compressed course will allow advisers to complete a subject in just six weeks, rather than the usual 12, while still maintaining “the same academic rigour and assessment requirements”.

While the education provider said it would be demanding for advisers to take on such a heavy workload, it added that it could be valuable for those still struggling to tick off their required courses.