Financial planners feel disrespected by FASEA process
Financial planners feel disrespected by the processes around the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) regime, according to CoreData Group managing director, Jason Andriessen.
Speaking as part of a panel discussion at the Financial Services Council (FSC) Leaders’ Summit in Melbourne, Andriessen revealed work his company had conducted on behalf of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) in developing its responses to the FASEA process.
He said that while planners understood the need to lift minimum education standards for financial planners, the reality for the FPA was that two out of three of its members were degree-qualified.
“These people are educated but they feel disrespected because they are being told they going to have to go back to school,” Andriessen said.
He said that that while 58 per cent of FPA members had a degree, only six per cent met the standards which had been outlined by FASEA and this explained the feelings of disrespect and the likelihood of people leaving the industry.
The CoreData findings seemed validated by ClearView head of advice, Tanya Seale who said many experienced planners were simply scared by the notion of having to undertake an exam in circumstances where they had not had to sit an exam in year.
Deakin University associate professor, Dr Adrian Raftery said that while he understood that the notion of further education represented a “grudge purchase” for planners, he believed they should embrace the challenge, take the exam and pass it.
In further discussion on the panel, the participants agreed that the most surprising and disturbing element to emerge from recent FASEA announcement had been the 800 hours attaching to advisers’ professional year.
Raftery said the requirement seemed consistent with what appeared to be a deliberate strategy on the part of FASEA to “get everyone angry and then wind it back”.
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