The Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has expanded its list of approved qualifications that will meet its education standard with the addition of a graduate diploma and bridging courses from the University of NSW (UNSW).
FASEA stated any advisers who complete UNSW’s Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning, offered since 1 July 2019, would be considered to have met the education standard.
The authority also approved two bridging courses offered by UNSW – Ethics for Professional Advisers and Behavioural Finance Advice – after the university made an application for recognition of the three courses and that they aligned with FASEA’s required curriculum and standards.
FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield said: “The approval of these additional courses builds on the body of courses approved by FASEA and provides additional choice to advisers seeking to meet the education standard.”
The courses will be added to the next updated version of the degree, qualifications and courses legislative instrument, which lists all relevant current and historical courses that have been approved by FASEA as meeting its education standards.
Since approvals commenced in 2017, FASEA has added 73 historical courses, 56 current bachelor or higher degrees and 35 bridging courses to the instrument, which was last updated on 31 January 2020, replacing the previous instrument from 23 December 2018.
FASEA stated it would continue to assess any further applications received from higher education providers in respect of courses that meet its education standard.
The authority also recently announced the dates for the last batch of exams for advisers, with six sessions spread across 2021, bringing the total number of exam periods to 15 from their start in mid-2019 until the 31 December 2021 deadline.
It also flagged a number of areas that advisers were struggling with during the exams, including those that caused some to fail the exam.
