ASIC FAR compliance program just days away

There is less than a week to go before ASIC commences a compliance program to ensure licensees have the correct details on their Financial Advisers Register (FAR) records. 

From 1 August, ASIC has said it will commence a compliance program to ensure that the information recorded on the FAR about approved qualifications is correct and will consider enforcement action where necessary.

The regulator said this “will remain a key focus” until 1 January 2026 when all financial advisers must comply with the qualification standard.

This can be met by either completing an approved qualification, by completing qualifications the minister has determined to be equivalent to an approved qualification for existing advisers, or by accessing the experienced provider pathway.

“It is a serious offence to knowingly provide false or misleading information to ASIC or to fail to take reasonable steps to ensure that the information provided to ASIC is true and correct. It is also an offence to fail to update the Financial Advisers Register within 30 business days of a financial adviser’s details changing.

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“Any incorrect or out of date information must be rectified by lodging a ‘maintain’ transaction via ASIC Connect.”

Money Management previously wrote that there were concerns among compliance experts about how there was no requirement for licensees to check if those advisers accessing the experience pathway did indeed have a decade of experience. 

The experience pathway came into force on 1 July, and licensees are required to notify ASIC by lodging a notice where they have received a written declaration from a financial adviser who is eligible to access the experienced provider pathway.

Written declarations should be provided by the adviser to the Australian financial services (AFS) licensees “as soon as practicable” if they wish to access the pathway.

Sam Hills, partner at Holley Nethercote, said: “When someone gives you their declaration, check they were on the FAR during that period and if you can see a gap, then you might want to make some inquiries about that, such as their authorisations for that period to give yourself that comfort.

“There’s a risk an adviser could lie and be misleading, and that would be a breach of the law, and a licensee has an obligation to take reasonable steps to comply with the financial services law.”

Earlier this month, ASIC identified problems with AFSLs’ FAR records including:

• Some of the qualifications marked as “approved” did not accurately match the wording of the course in the Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021 (the Determination).
• Some of the qualifications marked as “approved” were not approved qualifications, they were professional designations (e.g. Certified Financial Planner).
• Some of the qualifications marked as “approved” were not, in isolation, approved qualifications, they were bridging courses. These may be listed in the Determination but are required to be coupled with another qualification to meet the requirements of the professional standard.
• Some of the qualifications marked as “approved” were not approved qualifications under the Determination (examples include: the Financial Adviser Exam, Australian Qualifications Framework 1–5 qualifications, and Regulatory Guide 146 training/qualifications).