AFA News 8 September 2022. On 1 September 2022, ASIC issued an article to address Important next steps for existing financial advisers who have not passed the exam and their licensee. This article sets out the option that advisers have to get off the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) before 30 September 2022 in order to allow them to sit the exam at a later time and return to the financial advice profession after they pass, without the need to do a full undergraduate degree and the professional year.
It is important to understand that if you were to take this option, you would not be able to provide financial advice to your clients whilst you were off the FAR. This would mean that you would need to have someone else service your clients in the meantime. It would be important to discuss this with your licensee to understand how this might work. There is of course no guarantee as to when you might be able to pass the exam and, in any case, you would need to wait the four or so weeks that it is currently taking to issue the exam results.
The next opportunity to attempt the exam is on 3 November 2022. At this stage, there are no dates for exams in 2023.
For anyone who has not passed the Financial Adviser Exam, it is critical that you read this article by ASIC and make an informed decision as to whether you wish to come off the register early and retain the right to sit the exam at a later time and then re-enter the profession once you have passed the exam.
For any questions on the options for existing advisers who have not passed the exam, please email policy@afa.asn.au.
Issued 08.09.2022. AFA Policy & Education Update
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