With just two sitting weeks of both houses of Parliament left until the Christmas/New Year adjournment, it now seems likely that the Government will not introduce the legislation necessary to extend the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) timetable until next year at the earliest.
The Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology, Senator Jane Hume announced on 30 August the Government’s intention to legislate to extend the FASEA exam timetable but, to date, the necessary amendments have yet to show up on the Parliamentary business timetable.
What is more, there is still a question mark hanging over whether the legislation will gain the backing of the Federal Opposition to ensure its passage through the Parliament.
Hume announced at the end of August that the Government intended legislating to grant advisers sitting an additional year (to 1 January, 2022) to complete the exam and two additional years (to 1 January, 2026) to meet the broader FASEA qualification requirements.
However, in the absence of the necessary amendments, FASEA has made clear that it is bound to apply the current regime which requires advisers to have sat and passed the exam by 1 January, 2021 – effectively little more than a year.
Parliament will not resume sitting in 2020 until the first week of February and will only do so for five weeks before the Budget.
Both the Association of Financial Advisers (AFAs) and the Financial Planning Association (FPA) lobbied hard for the FASEA extensions.
