Almost 70 per cent of advisers have passed the latest financial adviser exam held in January 2021, the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) has announced, but pass rates have declined compared to past results.
The authority said 67 per cent of the 1079 advisers who sat the exam passed, compared with an average of 78 per cent across all exams, with a 73 per cent pass rate for candidates sitting the exam for the first time in January, compared with an average of 83.6 per cent across all exams.
In addition, 46 per cent of advisers resitting the exam passed on their second attempt compared to 55 per cent of resitters across all FASEA tests.
FASEA chief executive Stephen Glenfield said: “FASEA congratulates successful candidates on completing an important component of their education requirements under the Corporations Act.
“Candidates who were unsuccessful in this exam will receive additional individual feedback to highlight the curriculum areas that they have underperformed.”
The authority noted analysis of the January exam data had highlighted Financial Advice Regulatory and Legal Obligations, Applied Ethical and Professional Reasoning and Communication, and Financial Advice Construction as the main curriculum areas for improvement among unsuccessful candidates.
Since its introduction in June 2019, over 13,440 advisers have attempted the FASEA exam with an overall pass rate of 89 per cent across the previous sittings.
Currently, over 2300 advisers have been booked for the March exam to be held in metropolitan and regional locations and online from 25 to 30 March. A further 800 advisers have been booked for the May exam to be held from 20 to 25 May.
“FASEA, with the support of the exam administrator (ACER), has successfully offered 10 exam sittings to date on more than 50 exam days and 650 exam sessions. Since June 2019, exams have been offered in capital cities and in 23 regional locations across Australia (with the April and June 2020 exams being remote-only exams due to COVID-19 restrictions),” the authority added.
“FASEA is offering five further exam sittings in 2021. Unsuccessful candidates may resit the exam during this period.”
In December, the federal government announced it would scrap FASEA and give responsibility for its major functions to Treasury and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
