If advisers are holding out any hope they might have more opportunities to sit the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) exam by the 1 January, 2022, deadline, FASEA has said there won’t be any change to the three-month rule.
The three-month rule meant advisers could only register and sit every second exam, as it was held roughly every two months.
It typically took six to seven weeks for advisers to receive their exam results and registrations were usually closed for the next exam by that point.
Stephen Glenfield, FASEA chief executive, said advisers had been given multiple opportunities to pass the exam.
“If an adviser sat the June 2019 sitting, they had five opportunities to December 2020, which was further extended to eight opportunities to pass the exam before 1 January, 2022,” Glenfield said.
“The first exam offered by FASEA was sat in June 2019, and since then (as of the March sitting 2021) there have been 11 exams offered, providing over 700 sessions (430 metropolitan sessions and 272 regional location sessions).
“By the end of December 2021 (the transition date for existing advisers), FASEA will have offered 15 exam sittings.”
There was no intention to return results faster either and it was generally expected that advisers who did not pass the exam would need more time to prepare for another attempt.
“Advisers who are unsuccessful in any exam are provided with individual feedback on the knowledge and curriculum areas where they have performed below the pass mark,” Glenfield said.
“The three-month requirement enables these individuals time to prepare and revise the appropriate areas before they are eligible to re-sit the exam, therefore, advisers are eligible to sit every second exam sitting.”
With four sittings left, over 12,000 advisers had passed the exam – which accounted for only roughly 57% of advisers on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) Financial Adviser Register (FAR).
The last exam, which was held in January and February, had the lowest pass rate as only 67% of advisers passed.
The next exam sitting was on 20-25 May, 2021, and registrations would close on Friday, 30 April.
Remaining FASEA exam dates for 2021
|
|
Exam Dates |
Registration Dates |
Locations |
|
Sitting 12 |
20 May – 25 May |
8 February – 30 April |
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Gold Coast, Rockhampton, Hobart, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Wollongong, Bathurst/Orange, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Bunbury and Remote Proctoring. |
|
Sitting 13 |
15 July – 20 July |
5 April – 25 June |
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Gosford, Sunshine Coast, Townsville, Mackay, Albury/Wodonga, Geelong, Ballarat, Traralgon, Launceston and Remote Proctoring. |
|
Sitting 14 |
9 September – 14 September |
31 May – 20 August |
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Gold Coast, Cairns, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Wollongong, Bendigo and Remote Proctoring. |
|
Sitting 15 |
4 November – 9 November |
26 July – 15 October |
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Gosford, Bathurst/Orange, Geelong, Launceston and Remote Proctoring. |
Source: FASEA
