FPA reiterates support for planners in face of FASEA
The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has sought to calm nervous advisers at its Professionals Congress this morning, as confusion and frustration around the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority’s (FASEA) final reforms continue.
The FPA, which FASEA chief executive, Stephen Glenfield, had thanked earlier for its “measured response” to the proposals and which made a bid this month to be the code monitor for the new regime, continued its work in positioning itself to help advisers through the now-inevitable reforms.
“We will help you get through them,” FPA head of policy and standards, Ben Marshan, told the Congress, speaking on the transitional standards to be imposed by FASEA. “We have tools and we’re working with universities and we will help you get through them.”
He told planners that they had a responsibility to go and look through the reforms themselves, urging them to tell the FPA their concerns so that its policy team could take them into account in its submissions to FASEA during the consultation periods of each reform.
While the two to four-week consultation periods imposed by FASEA may seem short to advisers, Marshan reassured them that the FPA was equipped to deal with much shorter notice when making submissions.
Marshan also reminded the audience that there were 24 providers of 120 programs accounted for in the draft reforms as meeting the requirements for relevant qualifications.
“This means there are an awful amount of degrees that you may have completed in the past that are actually on that list … and there will be a lot more added in the coming months and years,” he said.
Glenfield had earlier said that he believed there were 150 programs provided for in the draft legislative instrument.
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