TheAssociation of Financial Advisers(AFA) has finally settled on a professional designation for its members, registering the Authorised Financial Adviser Australia (AFAA) and Certified Financial Adviser Australia (CFAA) marks to signify the professional standard, training and compliance levels of its advisers.
Forming part of the association’s ‘professional standards matrix’, the AFAA designation will denote a PS 146 level of compliance, while the CFAA will recognise the higher level of training recommended by the AFA in competition with theFinancial Planning Association’s (FPA) Certified Financial Practitioner (CFP) designation.
The decision comes after previous efforts by the AFA to register the Chartered Financial Planner (ChFP) designation failed following FPA claims it was too similar to its own CFP mark.
As part of the education matrix, the AFA has partnered with the Australian College of Financial Services (ACFS), an education provider that will give members access to the National Finance Industry Training Advisory Board’s (NFITAB) approved Diploma of Financial Services (DFS).
AFA national president Robin Yates says a unique policy within the new education plan is that the association will recognise training by other bodies that openly meets declared standards.
“The AFA has set up a register for approved courses. Course providers may apply for their course or courses to be added to the register, with the register to be placed on our web site,” Yates says.
AFA advisers will be aided in embracing the new standards, with the association having set up national standing committees in two disciplines: mortgage and investment property.
The ACFS will provide AFA members with PS 146 level modules in these two areas of focus, with advisers to choose if they will go on to do a complete study of the DFS.
“The AFA is committed to a leadership that ensures total public confidence in the quality of advice given by our members,” Yates says.
“We can achieve this because of the strong relationship we have with existing members.
“The standards we have set in our two new disciplines reflect this commitment,” he says.
