Industry bodies on the same page as Govt
The flexible and longer education transitional arrangement announced by the Government on Thursday has been given the thumbs up by the financial services industry bodies.
Announced in the Government's draft legislation existing advisers will now only need a degree-equivalent status as a minimum to continue giving advice. The timeframe to meet the education and exam requirements have also been extended.
Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) chief executive, Dante De Gori, said "the FPA has long been an advocate for raising the professional and educational standards of financial planners, but it is important to recognise that many existing financial planners have training and qualifications of a very high level, as well as years of experience".
"In some cases, these very experienced planners may be exempt from the new exam if their skills, expertise and experience are judged to be of an exceptionally high standard, which we see as a great outcome," he said.
Also commenting, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief executive, Brad Fox, said "we do not want to lose some of our most experienced advisers from the industry, so we are pleased to see a common sense approach to the new standards has been applied".
The associations also welcomed the proposed establishment of a standard setting body that will develop and set an industry exam, develop the code of ethics, and determine education requirements for new and existing advisers.
"We welcome the proposal to establish a standard setting body, and in particular the assurance that it will have appropriate input and representation from industry, education professionals and consumers," De Gori said.
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