- Australian financial services (AFS) licensees are no longer required to notify ASIC of the professional year arrangement between themselves and a new financial adviser.
- If you are a new financial adviser, or a foreign adviser, ASIC needs to assess your eligibility to sit the financial adviser exam and issue you with an exam eligibility number before you can book for the exam.
- Further information for new financial advisers, AFS licensees and foreign advisers is available on our Financial Advice website and Treasury’s Financial Adviser Standards website.
ASIC has updated information on Eligibility to sit the exam clarifying requirements for new financial advisers and foreign advisers.
No requirement to notify ASIC of professional year arrangements
ASIC does not require AFS licensees to notify ASIC of the professional year arrangement between themselves and a new financial adviser who is commencing their professional year.
Licensees were previously required to notify the former Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) of a professional year arrangement between themselves as a licensee, the identified supervisor and the new financial adviser within 30 days of a new financial adviser commencing their professional year.
Licensees are still required to notify ASIC when they grant a new financial adviser accelerated progression through Quarter 1 and/or Quarter 2. Licensees can do this when they appoint the new financial adviser to the Financial Advisers Register (FAR), via ASIC Connect.
Licensees are also required to notify ASIC of when a new financial adviser has completed their professional year and a final completion certificate has been issued. Licensees must do so within 30 business days of when a new financial adviser has completed their professional year of work and training by updating the new financial adviser’s details on the FAR, via ASIC Connect.
New financial advisers and foreign advisers who wish to sit the exam
If you are a new financial adviser, or a foreign adviser, ASIC needs to assess your eligibility to sit the exam before you can book for an exam.
If ASIC determines that you are eligible to sit the exam, you will be issued with an exam eligibility number which you must use to book for the exam.
To make sure new financial advisers are issued an exam eligibility number in time to book for an exam, their AFS licensee should apply for an exam eligibility number through the ASIC Regulatory Portal no later than 15 days before the last day of the booking period for an exam.
Foreign advisers can apply for an exam eligibility number by emailing ASIC at foreignexistingadvisers@asic.gov.au. See eligibility to sit the exam for further information.
See the exam schedule for the booking periods for the remaining exams in 2022.
Further information on the professional year
ASIC will provide further guidance for new financial advisers who are doing their professional year later this year.
In the meantime, for more information on the professional year and requirements for new financial advisers, head to Treasury’s Financial Adviser Standards website and ASIC’s Professional standards for financial advisers webpages.
You can contact us if you have any other queries about the professional year.