Australian financial services (AFS) licensees are required to check whether a person they intend to authorise and register as a relevant provider, meets the qualifications standard. Industry sometimes uses the terms ‘relevant provider’ and ‘financial adviser’ interchangeably.
The degree or qualification in the final academic transcripts must exactly match a degree or qualification listed in Schedule 1 of the Determination, including any conditions relating to that degree or qualification: see Table 1.
Condition
Details
Education provider
The higher education provider must be listed in Schedule 1 of the Determination.
Degree or qualification
The name of the degree or qualification listed in the final academic transcript must exactly match the relevant degree or qualification in the Determination. The course code should also match if it is listed in the Determination for the relevant degree or qualification.
Timing
If the approval of the degree or qualification in Schedule 1 of the Determination is subject to the condition that a person commenced their studies on, after or within certain dates, the final academic transcript must show that this condition has been met.
Other conditions
If the approval of the degree or qualification in Schedule 1 of the Determination is subject to other conditions, the final academic transcript must demonstrate that those conditions have been met.
For example, if the Determination specifies that a person must have completed certain units of study, the transcript must show that all the required units have been completed. The subject codes and subject names on the transcript must exactly match those listed under ‘other conditions’ in Schedule 1.
Ethics for Professional Advisers bridging unit
The final academic transcript should also show that an Ethics for Professional Advisers bridging unit has been completed, unless the Determination specifies that it is not required for the relevant degree or qualification. If an Ethics for Professional Advisers bridging unit must be completed, the bridging unit in the transcript must exactly match the relevant bridging unit listed in Schedule 2 of the Determination, including the name of each course and unit of study and the relevant course codes.
If a person has completed a degree or qualification listed in the Determination, but does not satisfy the relevant conditions listed in Schedule 1 of the Determination, they have two ways to meet the qualifications standard, namely:
written approval from the Minister that the person’s degree or qualification is equivalent to the one listed in the determination (where the person’s academic transcripts or statements otherwise do not meet all the prescribed conditions for that degree or qualification in the Determination), or
one or more statements or transcripts issued by the provider of the degree or qualification which confirm that the person has met each of the approved conditions in relation to the qualification.
Qualifications equivalent to the education and training standard
Generally, ’existing providers’ can also meet the qualifications standard through one of the existing provider pathways in Part 3 of the Determination. The pathway allows existing providers to attain qualifications that are equivalent to the education and training standard. For more information on the circumstances where existing providers can meet the qualifications standard through an existing provider pathway, see Applying the professional standards.
Additional resources for assessing qualifications
ASIC has provided the following worked examples and webinar recording for relevant providers and AFS licensees to refer to when assessing their relevant provider’s qualifications.
The five different worked examples below explain how an AFS licensee should assess their relevant provider’s qualifications and how to input this information into the Financial advisers register:
In November 2024, ASIC hosted a webinar to provide a practical walkthrough of how to assess a person’s qualifications against the qualifications standard, and how to input qualifications information into the Financial Advisers Register.
