AFA wants FASEA education deadlines extended

The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has called for the government to stretch out the due date of financial advisers meeting new education requirements. The AFA says that the delays in setting the standards has meant completing the study requirements in time will be difficult for many advisers. 

The AFA made a submission to the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA). The AFA wants the degree qualification/equivalence deadline of 31 December 2023 to become 31 December 2024, and the Registration Exam deadline to be pushed out to 31 December 2022. 

The AFA said that preparing for the exam would require enough time to study, with the advisers without a degree having to do the most study, with a full-time adviser's study time very limited. These advisers will need to do eight subjects for the Graduate Diploma. 

The AFA says this cohort of advisers should be allowed to take five years to complete the eight subjects, since legislation is not due to be finalised until the end of 2018, with courses still not developed to take students or approved, which is likely to extend adviser's start dates by two years.