Treasury has released draft legislation to enact two minor changes to the financial adviser exam administered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Issued today under the authority of Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones, the Corporations (Relevant Providers – Education and Training Standards) Amendment (2023 Measures No 1) Determination 2023 will amend the existing Corporations (Relevant Providers –Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021 to improve the efficiency and delivery of the exam.
More specifically, the amendment will remove six written-answer questions from the exam so it is based only on 70 multiple choice questions rather than six written answers and 64 multiple choice questions.
“Exams based on multiple choice questions create efficiencies by enabling computer marking to replace manual marking. This reduces the cost of administering exams and improves response times for exam candidates to receive their results,” the explanatory statement for the draft amendment stated.
The second change will remove the requirement that only provisional relevant providers and existing advisers can sit the exam.
“The current exam eligibility criteria, which restricts access to the exam based on the person having already met the qualifications standard, is causing unnecessary delays for new entrants seeking to enter the profession,” the explanatory statement said.
“Removing this restriction provides flexibility for candidates to sit the exam at an appropriate time. For example, potential new entrants could sit the exam while they are completing their studies.
“This also improves timely access to the exam by reducing bottlenecks and potential delays associated with conducting eligibility assessments for each exam candidate prior to each exam.”
It stipulated relevant financial advice providers are still required to meet the educational qualifications standard in addition to passing the adviser exam before providing personal advice to retail clients as outlined in section 921B of the Corporations Act.
The consultation period for the draft amendment began today and will close on 10 January 2024.