Speaking to ifa, AFA general manager for member services, partnerships, and Campus AFA Nick Hakes said providing education pathways was “one of the most pressing elements” of the introduction of professional standards.
“Even though lots of advisers and people in the marketplace are wanting some clarity and certainty, that’s the first cab off the rank and that’s what they’ve addressed,” he said.
“That seems a really sensible way to approach it, and they’ve spelled out the degree requirements for new entrants, which gives certainty to all of those people who are currently studying financial advice.”
Mr Hakes said the inclusion of interpersonal skills in the key competencies outlined by the FASEA pathways was also a positive for the industry, as many advisers already see such attributes as being critical to the provision of advice.
Fellow industry group FPA also welcomed FASEA’s clarification on required qualifications for new entrants, noting the government body had accepted the FPA’s Education Council Curriculum and Approved Degrees list.
FPA chief executive Dante De Gori said he was “proud” the organisation’s education standards had been adopted by FASEA.
“This announcement recognises the great work and significant effort that the Financial Planning Education Council Committee and the tertiary education sector have put into developing these financial planning degrees,” he said.
“We look forward to working with FASEA as the remaining elements of the new framework are developed, especially the degree equivalent pathway and transition for existing financial planners.”
Last week, founder of new adviser recruitment firm Grad Mentor Alisdair Barr told ifa the new pathways were “fundamentally the right thing” for the industry, but cautioned they could put pressure on the pipeline of new advisers.
You can see where FASEA are going with this. It’s becoming very obvious that, the definition or benchmark of a Degree and it’s equivalent is what’s on the FPEC list. So for most advisers this means going out and enrolling in University courses where at best you might get 50% exemption or credit off the subjects based on your past experience and study. Any pre AQF qualifications are worthless, your diploma’s, advanced diploma’s, CFP study, Degree’s in non related financial planning subjects and even the PHD in Finance from 1987 will either be worthless or might count towards some credit. So the only current advisers who are secure are the ones with specific Financial Planning Degrees obtained in the last 5 -10 years.It’s turning into a real mess.
A deadline should not have been set until the terms were set and research done on how long it will take the majority to meet the new requirements. Why is this so hard?
Don’t forget the timeline to comply to the new education requirements for existing planners is 2024. It is only new planners that have to comply by 2019.
Yep. 6 years to shape up or ship out!
Yes but we still don’t know exactly what the shape up looks like!! If not enough time is given it could mean busy planners will need to scale back their business to allow the time to meet the standard.
Dante De Gori’s email to FPA members referred to an 18 month timeframe for FASEA to confirm all education requirements.
18 months!!! I sincerely hope it doesn’t take FASEA 18 months to confirm education requirements for existing advisers. If it does, the govt should be pushing the date when new requirements come into force back to 2025.