FASEA demands no blurring of adviser status
The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has made clear that planners completing their professional year will not be able to call themselves or be referred to as either planners or advisers.
At the same time as outlining its proposals for the Professional Year, FASEA made clear that the so-called Provisional Financial Advisers cannot be referred to in terms which will blur their status as someone undertaking training.
It said the Provisional Relevant Provider Term represented an essential component of the standards framework to ensure it was clear to consumers when they are receiving advice from a Provisional Relevant Provider, rather than a Relevant Provider.
“FASEA has been requested to specify a word or expression to refer to a Provisional Relevant Provider and is proposing the term ‘Provisional Financial Adviser’ be used to ensure it is obvious that the individual is undertaking the work and training requirements,” FASEA said.
“Provisional Relevant Providers must be referred to by this term and no other similar term, including Relevant Provider, Financial Adviser or Financial Planner. Other terms that were considered by the Standards Authority include ‘Candidate Adviser’, ‘Trainee Adviser’ and ‘Supervised Adviser’.”
The authority announced on Monday that it was proposing that the professional year would encompass practical learning of four core technical competencies that provisional relevant providers have learned during their degree studies – technical competence, client care and practice, regulatory compliance and consumer protection, professionalism and ethics.
It said a quarterly approach to the supervised practical learning was being proposed.
FASEA said new advisers would undertake the PY requirements in their first continuous 12 months of full-time employment and it was proposed they would be known as Provisional Financial Advisers during that time.
It said that where an adviser took a career break for periods of less than two years, they would be able to return without additional requirements over and above professional and education standards for existing advisers.
However, for periods of two years it said they would need to undertake appropriate continuing professional development to ensure they were equipped with the latest regulatory and licensee requirements.
The guidance also proposes that a supervisor within each advice business will be appointed to take responsibility for the Provisional Relevant Provider’s work and training, ensure evidence is collected in a logbook and attest to the completion of their PY requirements.
The Provisional Relevant Provider’s licensee will also be responsible for providing the appropriate resources to ensure their training standard has been met.
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