Current ASIC compliance more concerning for advisers than FASEA exam

Australian Advisory’s “Financial advisers need more options” paper noted that, despite ongoing discussion within the industry about the relevancy of the exam, educational requirements are not the main area of concern for financial advisers.

The paper included findings from a survey undertaken in August by 160 specialists in the financial services industry which said that just 14 per cent were concerned about educational requirements behind compliance, which was the biggest area of concern (42 per cent).

Australian Advisory said the FASEA exam and qualifications post-2026 were specifically noted by the respondents.

“Perhaps as the FASEA higher education requirements are still four years away, they did not appear to be as front-of-mind,” the paper read.

“While still seriously important, the current ASIC compliance requirements have taken precedence over the pressures of their FUTURE educational requirements.”

The paper added that comments about educational requirements were typically about passing or having to resit the FASEA exam.

It comes after Lifespan Financial Planning head Eugene Ardino said the exam is creating “self-doubt” for advisers who have struggled to pass the test during a recent episode of the ifa Show.

“An exam that quite frankly, in many cases, doesn’t have a lot to do with giving advice, a lot of it’s very academic,” Mr Ardino said.

“I did the exam and, my goodness, I was lucky enough to pass and partly it’s because I live and breathe at a licensee level, but I left there scratching my head thinking, ‘Where are these questions coming from?’”

Listen to the full podcast here.

Earlier this month, draft exposure regulations of the incoming Better Advice Bill noted that the FASEA exam fee would increase to $948 (currently $540) while an additional $218 fee would apply for the corporate regulator to “review the marking of one or more answers to the written-style responses (non-multiple-choice questions) in an exam”.

Speaking to ifa, AFA general manager Phil Anderson said that the industry body has been concerned about a potential fee increase.

“We had feared that there would be an increase in the cost of the exam in 2022, as a result of the reduction in the number of advisers who will be sitting it,” Mr Anderson said.

“We are, however, concerned by the scale of this increase from $540 (plus GST) to $948. That is a very significant increase.”

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.