The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has released the results of the October exam with 76% of advisers passing.
The exam has now seen 49% of advisers on the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC’s) Financial Adviser Register (FAR) pass, and the exam now had an average pass rate of 83%.
First time candidates saw a pass rate of 80.6% which was below the average of 85.8% across all exams, while 60% of re-sitters passed compared to 57% across all exams.
Over 10,460 advisers had passed the exam, with a pass rate of 89.5% (irrespective of how many times it was sat).
Only 625 advisers sat the October exam, compared to the average of 1540 across all exams.
Stephen Glenfield, FASEA chief executive, said: “FASEA congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act during the current extraordinary circumstances.
“The overall pass rate of 76% may be attributed to several factors. Firstly, the October exam attracted a much smaller cohort of advisers in general, combined with a higher than usual proportion of re-sitters.
“For first time exam sitters during October, the pass rate remained at the 80% average.
“Over 11,690 advisers have sat the exam with nine-in-10 demonstrating they have the skills to apply their knowledge of advice construction, ethics and legal requirements to the practical scenarios tested in the exam.”
Comments
No matter how many ways you look at it 25% failed that's quite high in any exam environment.
How many are sitting a third time frightens me ??
What can the re-fail rate be attributed to Glenfield? Maybe not telling failed candidates how much they failed by and which sections they failed yet charging a remark fee has something to do with it. This farce should be subject to a royal commission. PS this is about fairness for others not sour grapes as i got through first go.
Advisers are required to go onto ASIC CONNECT and register that they passed FASEA exam. For the previous 4 months, I have questioned why passing FASEA exam is not shown to the public in ASIC MoneySmart Financial Advisers Register with an adviser's other qualifications? In the last 4 months, ASIC has not changed to make this public disclosure. FASEA has notified it will have its own Financial Advisers Register so passing the exam can be shown to the public. I complained that (1) public servants are into duplication of registers and (2) while advisers are required to comply with FASEA, especially Standard ... in the public interest, the same public interest duty does not equally apply to Government Regulators and financial institutions so inclusive mutuality does not apply across the industry ... in the public interest. That is, financial advisers are obligated, but other more powerful organisations that individual financial advisers are not. It is not a level playing field.
hi ross,
you seem like a nice chap. I've been in the industry for 20 years. I have already got a masters in financial planning and two other degrees and I already passed the fasea exam, and here is what I am expecting:
a. for Kaplan to withdraw the m. fin plan I completed so I have to do another full master or grad dip (why not just go the whole hog I am ready for it, I never do anything halfway) so ready to do the masters again
b. ready to resit the fasea exam again - after they change the standards, this will be a new and improved exam which will surprise many financial planners that they have to resit after passing it the first time but will happen
c. new and improved regulations including 6 new forms courtesy of ASIC after they complete the recent survey to find out why no one wants to give scaled advice or why the cost of advice has blown out
at least I am ready. I'd suggest you all get ready for the same as it is highly probable (with a 90% certainty) that this will happen.
I am ready for it. good luck y'all
I don't think it's necessary or appropriate to publicly show whether an adviser has passed the exam. All advisers have until the end of 2021. Until then it makes no difference whether an adviser has passed the exam or not. I passed in 2019 but I know plenty of excellent advisers who haven't sat it yet, due to various other commitments.
After 2021 any adviser who hasn't passed will no longer be an adviser. They will be removed from the FAR altogether. Showing FASEA exam completion on the FAR will be completely redundant. Why waste resources including it now?
Stephen Glenfield.....are you satisfied the 2018 FASEA submission provided by Dr Hugh Breakey and Professor Charles Sampford of Griffith University and paid for by ASIC's Consumer Advisory Panel passes the test of ethics , morals and is absolutely without conflict of interest on any level ??
A simple answer of either YES or NO will suffice.
This is still more of an exercise in senior and experienced financial planners relearning uni exam techniques, than it is in examining the subject matter. I found this exam to be excruciating in its ambiguity of questionning, and the subject matter was not weighted across the various legal requirements in proportion to their relevancy in day to day matters! A very poor exam set up, leading to some highly qualified and extremely competent advisers struggling to get through it. And it definitely is biased against Risk Advisers, as is the whole curriculum once they get through the entrance exam. FASEA, you're still missing the mark! Lift your game! There is no reason that 100% of existing advisers couldn't be coached or trained to pass this entrance exam, so the only excuse for the lower pass rate for resits is FASEA's poor exam structure.
This is an exam...so a certain percentage MUST fail. It's a shame however there are probably some great advisers that for whatever reason just plain fail...they wake up with a headache, the dog died, the wife left them,, blah blah blah... I just hope that those that are left take a good hard look and ask how we got here. Alas that won't happen. So get your business ready for the next political cycle and get ready to be kicked again and again.
hi yogi,
i am very much like you, i already passed the fasea exam and have an approved masters degree, i am looking at redoing both next year when the new and improved requirements set in which will require me to redo the old degree because there is a new one
Wonder how ASIC would go? Perhaps they could nominate James Shipton to have a go at the exam - I believe he has some time on his hands now that his tax returns and late lodgements have been finalised.
Or he might be a bit short of cash to pay the fee for the exam after having to pay back some money. Perhaps ASIC could help him out - seems the staff at ASIC just pass the Cheque Book around?
Has anyone actually looked at how many of these people that have passed will actually be physically giving advice? In my little circle of influence I know two managers, two compliance staff and one para-planner that have sat and passed the exam who have no intention of ever sitting in front of a client to give advice!
They may think they have 10,000+ advisers ready to go but I think you'll find it will be a lot less than that!
This is very worrying to see. If only 50% of advisers have passed the exam with 1 year to go its very likely that we could see 30/40% of advisers leaving in 2021. Then take out the advisers who have only taken the exam to be able to exit between 2021 and 2026 (almost all of the advisers I know personally) then its likely there will be very few advisers left in 2026.
The financial planning industry is looking pretty doomed.
Then take out the paraplanners and compliance officers and "remediation consultants" on the FAR who have done an FP degree and passed the FASEA exam, but have never worked as real advisers and probably never will.
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