Uncertainty lingers amongst existing financial planners around the specifics of the new curriculum under the new professional standards for financial advisers, according to the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
Head of policy, Benjamin Marshan, said the FPA had been receiving calls from financial planners enquiring them about what courses they would need to do and how they could prepare themselves for the new professional standards.
Along with introducing legislation into the Parliament this year to mandate the new standards, the Federal Government also said last month the legislation would establish an independent standards body as a Commonwealth company.
“Unfortunately with the timing of when the standards setting body is being set up and that they’re providing it, but probably still at best case 18 months to 24 months away from actually having a curriculum, [before] existing planners will know what they need to do from an education perspective,” Marshan said.
The standards setting body would be a nine-member board, with three of those members from the financial advice industry who would have experience and working knowledge of providing financial advice and running an advice business.
Marshan said the five-year transition period would be sufficient for existing advisers to complete the required courses over that period of time.
“So planners shouldn’t get worried or shouldn’t panic is what we’ve been telling them. But we are getting a lot of calls [on] ‘what courses can I do, what can I do to be prepared already?'” he said.
He added that the FPA had not directly heard of advisers seeking to alter their plans of leaving or staying in the industry, and added the FPA had had degree entry standards since 2007 meaning many members already met the requirements of the education framework.
