The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has opened registrations for financial advisers to notify their intention to sit the FASEA exam.
FASEA has also released guidance to help advisers prepare for the exam, including detail on the curriculum, a reading list for the areas covered by the exam and a set of practice questions that uses a single scenario to cover multiple-choice and short-answer questions.
The exam will test the practical application of knowledge in three competency areas: financial advice regulatory and legal requirements, financial advice construction, and applied ethical and professional reasoning and communication.
“The opening of registrations for the exam is a significant milestone for FASEA and the industry, and I encourage advisers to register as early as possible,” FASEA chief Stephen Glenfield said.
Registrations close on 31 May and exams will be conducted between 20 June and 24 June in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Townsville, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Hobart.
Subsequent exam sittings will be conducted between 19 September and 23 September, and again in December, with further dates to be announced for February, April, June, August, October and December 2020.
FASEA said the exam is a key requirement of legislative reforms introduced in 2017 to raise the education, training and ethical standards of financial advisers.
“Existing advisers are required to pass the exam by 1 January 2021. New entrants are required to pass the exam before they commence quarter three of their professional year,” it said.
“To be eligible to register for the exam, you will need to meet the eligibility criteria, which requires you to have either registered as a new entrant with FASEA or be an existing adviser registered on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register.”
