SIAA calls for prompt enactment of experience pathway

The Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA) has thrown its support behind the experience pathway and urged it to be implemented quickly.

Members were considering exiting the profession rather than completing the three to eight units that were needed as their existing qualifications were not approved due to the profession’s existing qualifications not being recognised by the former Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA). 

Waiting in limbo for the pathway to be legislated was cutting short their study time, SIAA said.

In its submission to Treasury, SIAA said: “Most stockbrokers and investment advisers put their education on hold in light of the minister’s election commitment to introduce an experience pathway and an expanded qualification pathway. For advisers who have to study six to eight units, unless they commence or recommence study for those units now, they will not be able to complete them in time to meet the deadline.

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“Without recognition of their prior learning and experience, they will be forced to retire from the profession. Thousands more clients will be orphaned and the number of advisers available to Australians seeking advice will decline further.

“We note that the Bill does not deal with the issue of existing advisers who do not meet the experienced advisers’ criteria. These advisers are required to meet at most an approved eight-unit graduate diploma (or equivalent) by 1 January 2026. This means that they are required to undertake tertiary study in subject areas that, unless they are financial planners, are not relevant to the services they offer clients. This discriminates against those in the stockbroking and investment advice profession, given they are expected to allocate time and costs to study unrelated to the financial advice service they provide.”

For those experienced advisers who did not meet the experience pathway requirements, SIAA recommended they had passed the financial adviser exam, completed an ethics unit and held a tertiary qualification in order to continue working without further study.

The organisation also argued against a sunset clause, as this would only move the 2026 deadline to a later date, undermine Jones’ election commitment and be a form of “kicking the can down the road”. 

“Imposing a sunset clause on the experienced pathway to say, 1 January 2032, would essentially only move the drop-dead date by six years for experienced advisers. It essentially represents a replication of the current FASEA regime but with a later expiration date — it is ‘kicking the FASEA can down the road’. 

“This is not the basis of an experienced pathway. An experienced pathway is meant to acknowledge the experience, qualifications and knowledge of existing advisers, not string them along for another period of time and impose mandated tertiary education requirements upon them in a different guise.”