Financial advisers with foreign qualifications will be able to have them approved for use in meeting new education standards after the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) announced it had opened its assessment process.
FASEA stated advisers with foreign qualifications were required to have them approved if they planned on using them to meet the education and training standards of the Corporations Act.
Only qualifications that are at a bachelor level or higher awarded by a higher education provider outside Australia will be assessed by FASEA.
The authority also indicated a ‘simple application’ covering one to two qualifications would attract a $120 fee and a ‘complex application’ for more than two qualifications would attract a $250 fee, and take about 10 business days to process.
The process will be the same for new and existing advisers, who will be required to submit to FASEA a certified copy of a Department of Education and Training (DET) assessment for each qualification and a certified copy of the academic transcript, in English, for each degree or diploma.
The DET assessment will check if a foreign qualification is equivalent to a bachelor or higher degree that meets the Australian Qualifications Framework standard, while FASEA will assess the foreign qualification for equivalence to degrees or qualifications already approved by the authority.
Following the assessment, advisers will be informed of any further study they may have to undertake and FASEA stated advisers may include Australian qualifications in their application to assist it in determining that level of study.
“The opening of the Foreign Qualifications Assessment Service will enable persons holding international qualifications to obtain approval of their qualifications and to confirm any further education they must undertake to continue operating in the industry after 1 January 2024,” FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield said.
