ASIC extends financial adviser registration date

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has extended the deadline for financial adviser registration for a second time.

Advisers who were relevant providers would now have until 1 October 2023 to complete their registration.

The registration was an additional element to the pre-existing requirement for AFS licensees to appoint a relevant provider to the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) after they had been authorised

The registration portal would open after the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No.1) Bill 2023 had passed into law, this currently sat with the Senate Economics Legislation Committee and  was expected to be on 2 June.

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ASIC said the delay would allow time for:

• Parliament to consider the improvements proposed by the Bill;
• ASIC to assist the financial advice industry to understand and comply with the registration requirement by issuing regulatory guidance and conducting webinars; and
• Australian financial service (AFS) licensees to understand the registration requirement and to make necessary applications to register their relevant providers with ASIC.

Provisional relevant providers could not be registered, ASIC said.

This was the second delay for the registration following a move to 1 July 2023 last November in order to allow improvements to be made to the Stage 1 registration requirement.

Earlier this month, Leah Sciacca, ASIC’s senior executive leader, told delegates at the FAAA adviser roadshow that amendments to the Better Advice Act were likely to delay the process. 

“There are currently some amendments to the Better Advice Act before parliament that relate to financial adviser registration, and this may impact the timing of ASIC launching its registration system,” Sciacca said.

She stated that in the meantime, along with ensuring ASIC’s IT infrastructure was ready for this process, it had prepared industry guidance about registration requirements. This included how to register a relevant provider, what happened when registration ceased, and what declarations needed to be made by AFS licensees as part of the process.

“We’ve also developed webinars to walk AFS licensees through the practical steps of applying to register their relevant providers,” she added.

“ASIC will continue to monitor the amendments before parliament and assist industry in understanding its obligations in relation to registration.”