Kaplan Professional has frozen its enrollment fees for financial advisers completing FASEA requirements in response to the pressure they are facing due to COVID-19 and will not review them again until 2022.
The financial services education provider said the move applies to fees for its retail subjects that are necessary for advisers to complete to comply with requirements overseen by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA).
The fee arrangement follows a number of other moves by Kaplan Professional, which stated it had been “cognisant of the burden placed on licensees and advisers” since the start of the FASEA regime. Its other initiatives include reduced enrolment fees, negotiated pricing for corporate groups and locking in the price of enrolment fees for the duration of an adviser’s qualifying period.
Kaplan Professional chief executive Brian Knight said despite the pressures on advisers, many were still taking on FASEA-focused study and more than 2000 advisers had enrolled in each one of the firm’s six annual intakes since the new education and professional standards were confirmed.
“You only have to look at the significant number of advisers enrolled with Kaplan Professional and the fact 90 per cent had already completed their 40 hours of continuing professional development [via Kaplan] before the original 30 June deadline to understand advisers are facing up to the challenge despite the circumstances,” Knight said.
“Although advisers appreciate the extensions, they are expressing a preference to not have these education commitments hanging over them for the next five to six years.”
He said the education provider was also working to help advisers sit and pass the FASEA exam and more than 6000 advisers had completed the Kaplan Adviser Practice Exam. It was also providing support services to advisers concerned about the education requirements or exam, he added.
“We felt it was important to do more for these advisers, so we introduced personal consultations to support anyone who is apprehensive about sitting the FASEA exam or has failed and is struggling with self-doubt,” he said.
“Depending on an adviser’s needs, we can support them with our standard exam preparation resources, in addition to one-on-one coaching and self-paced programs with facilitated group tutorial sessions.
“We have also looked at further ways to assist advisers who are working and studying from home, understanding what will motivate them to keep up their momentum.”
Kaplan Professional also recently partnered with the Financial Planning Association to add the latter’s certified financial planner certification program into its Master of Financial Planning.
