Thousands of advisers yet to register with ASIC, FAAA urges swift action

In a statement on Wednesday, the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) said nearly 6,000 financial advisers are yet to be registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) following the passage of legislation in November 2023.

According to the FAAA, these advisers are at risk of no longer being able to provide advice.

In line with the new legislation, advisers who are not registered by the deadline of 1 February 2024 will not be able to legally provide financial advice.

A central registration requirement for financial advisers was originally introduced in the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response – Better Advice) Act 2021 and was due to come into force from 1 January 2023, however, it has since been delayed several times.

The FAAA reminded that all advisers who were registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) as at 1 January 2022, and have not changed licensee since, are deemed to be registered. For all other advisers, their licensee needs to register them.

“While there have been a number of communications about this new obligation, we are aware that many licensee staff and advisers have been on leave recently and thus not yet attended to this matter,” said the chief executive officer of the FAAA, Sarah Abood.

“Completing this process by 1 February 2024 is essential in order for advisers to continue to practice. A lot is at stake,” Ms Abood cautioned.

She advised impacted advisers to check to see whether they are already registered by looking up their adviser record on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR).

Namely, the FAAA explained that there is a new field in the first section on “Registration status”.

“If this is showing as ‘Registered’, then there is nothing further required. However, if it is showing as ‘Not Registered’, then it is essential that they immediately contact their licensee to confirm the process to complete registration,” said Ms Abood.

One new part of this registration process is the requirement for advisers to provide a declaration that they are a fit and proper person.

ASIC has issued Information Sheet 276 FAQs: Registration for relevant providers, which provides more background information on this obligation.