The government on Thursday released draft legislation under its commitment to ensure the financial adviser exam remains a pillar of the financial adviser professional standards.
The draft legislation includes amendments that will:
- Remove the short answer questions from the exam and increase the number of multiple-choice questions.
- Remove the requirement that only provisional relevant providers and existing advisers can sit the exam.
These amendments concern principles 2 and 5 of the exam, as outlined in the Corporations Determination 2021.
The draft explanatory statement sets out that exams based on multiple choice questions “create efficiencies” by enabling computer marking to replace manual marking.
“This reduces the cost of administering exams and improves response times for exam candidates to receive their results.”
Regarding changes to principle 5, the explanatory material says that “current exam eligibility criteria which restricts access to the exam based on the person having already met the qualifications standard is causing unnecessary delays for new entrants seeking to enter the profession”.
“Removing this restriction provides flexibility for candidates to sit the exam at an appropriate time. For example, potential new entrants could sit the exam while they are completing their studies.
“This also improves timely access to the exam by reducing bottlenecks and potential delays associated with conducting eligibility assessments for each exam candidate prior to each exam.”
The material highlights that all relevant providers are still required to meet the qualifications standard in addition to meeting the exam standard in order to provide personal advice to retail clients.
“The minister has assessed that these amendments are necessary and desirable to ensure that relevant providers are adequately trained and competent to provide personal advice to retail clients in relation to relevant financial products,” the material states.
The government has invited interested parties to submit their views up until 10 January.
Well what a farce these exams were touted to sort the quality of advice and now with the QAV statements and this reduction in the level of knowledge to sit these exams we are back to any old hack who does a week of study can sit and pass these exams. The recent legislation has set us back 10 years and in 15- 20 years we will see the results of the unqualified and un quantified advice displayed with clients retiring with $85K again. . What an absolute sham!!
Nothing but tinkering and fluffing around the edges by incompetents. The damage has, sadly, already been done – to adviser stress levels, families and businesses. Far too many good and ethical experienced investment advisers, financial planners and specialist risk advisers have been driven from the industry they loved by these self absorbed fools and opportunists. Committed and passionate advisers who would have stayed for a decade more at least and continued to look after their loyal clients.
Now these clients will be exposed to the tyranny of industry super fund ‘advisers’ and direct salespeople of life companies. They won’t have their trusted advisers to look out for their best interests in this deplorable and dangerous industry-advice based new world. The so-called new “qualified advisers” with 2 weeks ‘training’.
These exam changes will change very little if anything. It makes me sick. They should be abjectly ashamed, not to mention SACKED. Exam changes? . . . inconsequential, FAR too little, FAR too late from politicians wholly unqualified in their roles and incapable of simply doing their jobs properly.
Just think, we pay their wages for this low level of ‘performance’ and give them golden handshakes/massive lifetime super payouts when they finish doing all their damage. What an absolute racket and rort on the Aussie taxpaying mug.
You won’t have to sit it at all soon
I don’t really see the point of continuing on with this exam. It doesn’t test a candidate’s technical knowledge or knowledge of their regulatory obligations as either a licensee or an authorised representative. It’s really an ethics exam and as we know, you can’t teach an unethical person to be ethical, only further educate them on how to navigate around what’s ethical. Opening up to all and sundry to sit it achieves what? “I work for an Industry Superfund and I was in the member call centre but they fast-tracked (2 weeks) a diploma course for me so now I’m a ‘Qualified Adviser’ and can advise members on their direct share holdings, life insurance and estate planning needs and how much they will need to fund their goals and objectives for a comfortable retirement. And and now I’ve passed the FASEA exam so I’m an extra-special really qualifed adviser!” After being in this industry since the ’80’s it sounds eerily like the ghost of Christmas past. Merry Christmas everyone. I know what the ISA has waiting for them under the Christmas tree with their best buddy Jim Chalmers running things – everything they ever wanted.