Financial advisers who failed the last adviser exam for 2021 and are awaiting the results of a re-mark will not be authorised to act from 1 January 2022 until they receive confirmation later that month of whether they passed or not.
As part of its release of exam dates for 2022, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also posted an update on its website detailing the status of advisers who have not yet passed the mandatory exam.
ASIC highlighted the authority of these practitioners to provide advice would need to be revoked, but this would allow them to remain as existing advisers and not be considered as new entrants when they do pass the exam at a future date.
“Financial advisers who have applied for a re-mark of the November 2021 exam will not receive their result until sometime in January 2022,” the corporate regulator stated.
“This means that financial advisers who have failed the November 2021 exam and are waiting for the results of a re-mark, and are also not eligible for the extension to 1 October 2022, will lose their status as a relevant provider on 1 January 2022.
“They will also lose their status as an existing provider (and be treated as a new financial adviser) unless their Australian financial services licensee takes steps to ensure they are no longer a financial adviser on or before 31 December 2021.”
It added any adviser who is no longer able to act for clients on or before 31 December 2021 will retain their status as an existing provider and if they pass on a re-mark of the November 2021 exam, they can be authorised again immediately to provide advice to clients.
If the re-mark, however, confirms a fail, they will need to pass an exam in 2022 before they can be authorised to provide personal advice.
The regulator added any advisers who enrolled for an exam but did not sit the exam will not be considered as having sat that exam and that enrolment will not count towards the requirement to “sit the exam at least twice”.
