Around 500 advisers in Australia will be forced to stop delivering financial advice at the end of September 2022, according to AFA chief, Phil Anderson – but he says options still exist for this group.
Speaking to delegates at the 2022 AFA Thrive Conference, Anderson pieced-together various industry data to conclude that around 500 of the 882 advisers granted an exam extension by ASIC, thereby allowing them to continue delivering personal financial advice during 2022, have yet to pass the ASIC adviser exam.
With the exemption expiring on 30 September, and with no further exams being offered before this date, Anderson says these 500 advisers will be forced to exit the profession.
In outlining this development, however, Anderson highlighted a small thread of opportunity for this group of advisers who may still wish to sit and pass the exam in future. This opportunity is based on existing legislation confirmed by ASIC in guidelines it released on 1 September, which detail the options available to those who have not passed the exam.
One of the options for this group is to remove themselves from ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register before 30 September 2022, which will allow them the opportunity to sit the exam again. If successful, they could return to the FAR without the need to undertake a full undergraduate degree and the Professional Year now required for new or otherwise returning entrants.
But in order to explore this option, these advisers must have their authorised representative status cancelled by 30 September, rather than seeing it expire on this date.
Anderson noted the challenges for these advisers that exist in the interim period between 1 October and the date they return onto the FAR, however, which naturally include finding a service solution for their existing clients.
He called on everyone to be kind and empathetic to those of their colleagues who find themselves in this situation, as overall adviser numbers in Australia continue to decline.