Stephen Jones’ proposed experience pathway will likely come into force, but Sarah Abood, chief executive of the FPA, expects to see certain restrictions added.
Speaking at the FPA roadshow in Sydney, Abood said she expected the experience pathway to come into force but said the organisation was advocating for certain constraints to be applied.
The original proposals stated advisers who had 10 years of experience as a financial adviser in the last 12 years would only need to complete a tertiary level unit on the code of ethics.
“We will see the experience pathway and are advocating hard to get an answer but think it will have some constraints,” she said.
She said the problem with the delays was that it was leaving members in limbo as to whether they should complete their studies or whether they would be eligible for experience pathway.
“Stephen Jones came out with a strong position publicly of the experience pathway but he will need to have something that won’t be an open-ended 10 years because the associations have strongly come back and said that wouldn’t be a good idea.
“There have been ideas put forward on how it can be limited and the FPA has suggested an age limit.
“We have said to him that our members need an answer soon as it is leaving them in limbo, some are partway through their studies and unsure if they need to continue.”
The FPA had previously stated the experience pathway should not apply to younger advisers as they may lack formal tertiary qualifications which would be negative from a consumer perspective.
Jones stated this week that he was working to deliver the experience pathway “as soon as possible”.
