Where does relevant provider registration with ASIC now stand?

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has provided an update on the status of financial adviser registration with the regulator since it was delayed in November 2022.

Speaking at the FAAA’s United Association Roadshow 2023, Leah Sciacca, ASIC’s senior executive leader, highlighted the six-month delay at the request of the government.

ASIC had previously announced that registration would be available through ASIC Connect from October 2022, which was pushed back to 1 July 2023. 

“There are currently some amendments to the Better Advice Act before parliament that relate to financial adviser registration, and this may impact the timing of ASIC launching its registration system,” Sciacca said.

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She stated that in the meantime, along with ensuring ASIC’s IT infrastructure was ready for this process, it had prepared industry guidance about registration requirements. This included how to register a relevant provider, what happened when registration ceased, and what declarations needed to be made by AFS licensees as part of the process.

“We’ve also developed webinars to walk AFS licensees through the practical steps of applying to register their relevant providers,” she added.

“ASIC will continue to monitor the amendments before parliament and assist industry in understanding its obligations in relation to registration.” 

In her address at the roadshow, Sarah Abood, chief executive of the newly formed Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA), added the merged organisation had negotiated with ASIC to update the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) with no additional cost to licensees.

She pointed out that the average cost to update multiple details for an adviser was about $34, per ASIC data.

“We were a bit concerned at one point. Looking at the numbers, it could’ve been over half a million dollars across the industry just to update association membership,” she said.

“We’re so pleased to have ASIC support on that one. We will send all the data, so your membership status will be automatically updated in August.” 

According to a recent Wealth Data analysis, if all members moved over, over half (56 per cent) of the FAR could be members of the FAAA at around 8,835 advisers.