More than 1000 advisers sat the last exam to be conducted by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) in 2020, with three-quarters of the candidates passing, but both figures were lower than the averages set across eight previous exam sittings.
FASEA stated 1016 advisers sat the ninth financial adviser exam in November, down from an average of 1490 across all exams. Of that number, 80 per cent sitting the exam for the first time passed, compared with an average of 85.8 per cent across all exams.
Of those advisers resitting the exam, 58 per cent passed compared to 59 per cent of resitters across all exams, and in total 76 per cent of candidates passed the exam compared with an average of 83 per cent across all exams.
The authority also stated that, to date, 12,573 advisers had sat the exam, of which 89.5 per cent, or 11,241 advisers, had passed, representing 52 per cent of advisers on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register.
FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield said advisers who had passed and given their consent will have their names added to the successful candidates list on the authority’s website, and at the time of publishing 7144 names had been added to the list.
Areas in which exam candidates underperformed included assessing whether the adviser has appropriately scoped the advice, demonstrating an understanding of the different types of advice and the components of key advice documentation that is provided to the client.
Other areas included the ability to identify breaches of the best interest duty and subsequent notification obligations and an understanding of an adviser’s ethical obligations when advice is not in the client’s best interest.
FASEA will conduct six exams in 2021 and encouraged advisers to book sittings for early in the year to maximise the number of opportunities to sit the exam, adding that over 1300 advisers had already booked for the January exam.
