A specialist education stream should be introduced for risk advisers under the Government’s proposed professional standards, according to Synchron director, Don Trapnell.
Commenting on the exposure draft of the professional standards released by the Government, Trapnell has also urged the formal recognition of existing knowledge and experience where life/risk advice is concerned.
He said the specialist stream for risk advisers was justified because they were not general practitioners but specialists and that each financial advice specialisation required its own education and professionalism stream.
“Financial advisers should be able to elect to study a specialist stream, just as students of any discipline can choose to specialise in a particular area,” Trapnell said. “In the case of risk specialists, this would of course mean specializing in life insurance.”
And on the question of recognition of existing knowledge and experience, he said that existing, long-term risk advisers should be provided with an appropriate education pathway that recognizes their extensive life insurance knowledge and experience and their unique set of client relationship skills.
“The average age of Synchron advisers is 43,” Trapnell said. “These people understand what they need to do in order to meet changing education requirements. But we need to also ensure that older, highly-experienced advisers are provided with an appropriate professional pathway that recognizes their extensive knowledge, experience and expertise.”
