TAL spruiks professional year initiatives

According to TAL, its PY Manager grew to support 207 candidates and more than 600 users in 2023. Among these, 16 candidates have completed their PY through the program, while more than 100 Australian Financial Services Licensees currently use the platform.

The PY Manager service was launched in November 2022 and helps candidates, supervisors, and licensees to manage the requirements of the PY, which TAL said allows users to spend more time on career development and less on administration.

In addition to the PY Manager, TAL also provides structured training through the TAL Risk Academy, and PY Community.

TAL general manager, retail sales and new business, Beau Riley, said: “TAL is committed to growing the advice profession by providing the right education and support required to meet dynamic professional standards and regulatory requirements. Ultimately, this will mean more Australians will have access to the high-quality financial advice they want and need.

“TAL is focused on partnering with licensees and advisers to help grow a thriving, professional financial advice sector.”

According to the insurer, there were 1,163 TAL Risk Academy course enrolments by PY candidates in 2023, which represents an increase of 168 per cent over the last two years. TAL added that its Financial Exam Masterclass is the most popular on-demand course and directly supports advisers in their PY.

“Supporting candidates to meet their structured training requirements with assessments, and licensees with the PY criteria, is one of the ways we show our dedication to advisers’ ongoing professional development. It is incredibly rewarding to see candidates from over 100 AFSLs using the PY Manager platform to complete their Professional Year,” said Mr Riley.

“We will continue to design our PY support based on adviser feedback, updating the content to ensure relevance.”

In November, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said that the ability for superannuation funds to hire advisers with lower qualifications would open up a “logical pathway” for someone who starts at a superannuation fund but wants to then become either a self-licensed adviser or work for a licensee.

“That becomes the incentive for them to complete their qualifications,” he said.

When Mr Jones announced in a speech at Parliament House in December that these conditions would then extend to other institutions, namely insurers and banks, it opened the possibility that insurers could also fill the role of incubators for professional advisers.