The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has stipulated that financial advisers who hold foreign qualifications will only be able to have them recognised after they pass a gap assessment of key knowledge areas and Australian regulatory and legal obligations.
In releasing its finalised Foreign Qualification Standard Policy, FASEA stated that, based on submissions made during a consultation process in November 2018, it had included the gap assessment as well as a process to review its assessment decisions regarding foreign qualifications.
In November 2018, the authority indicated the assessment process would take place in two stages. This would include an assessment by a Department of Education and Training-approved body comparing an overseas qualification to an Australian qualification, followed by FASEA’s own assessment as to the equivalence of the foreign qualification to a degree or qualification approved under its Education Pathways Policy.
Following these stages, FASEA will determine any further education requirements, ranging from a single-unit ethics course to a full three-year degree based on its recently released finalised Pathways Policy.
In the Pathways Policy, FASEA specified it would “make available a service for the assessment of foreign qualifications and for degrees where it is not obvious/clear that the degree meets the relevant knowledge areas”.
The service, which has yet to be launched, will cost $120 per assessment and will be made available to advisers and licensees.
FASEA will also track the approval of foreign qualifications and will create a Foreign Qualification Precedent Database on its website.
