Time's up on sloppy FAR record keeping: ASIC

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission will today embark on a compliance program aimed at cleaning the information recorded on the Financial Advisers Register, after licensees were given 30 days to fix a slew of errors and inconsistencies identified by the regulator.

On July 1 ASIC warned licensees of incorrect marking on its registry relating to qualifications and training courses, and urged them to log onto the FAR and make the appropriate corrections.

Common errors identified by the regulator include ‘approved’ courses that were not correctly identified, and courses marked as ‘approved’ courses that were actually designations (such as the Certified Financial Planner designation), the regulator noted, or bridging courses.

There were further instances of licensees adding ‘approved’ qualifications that were not appropriate, ASIC continued, including the Financial Adviser Exam and legacy RG146 training certificates.

“ASIC is also aware of instances where AFS licensees have not ensured that the contact details of their financial advisers are up to date,” the regulator noted.

The regulator said all licensees needed to “urgently” log onto the registry and check that the information they provided was correct, “with a particular focus on the adviser’s approved qualification(s), ability to provide tax (financial) advice services, business address and telephone number”.

Licensee staff were advised that if they made all the necessary updates in one transaction via the ASIC Connect portal, “only one fee applies”.

“It is a serious offence to knowingly provide false or misleading information to ASIC or to fail to take reasonable steps to ensure that the information provided to ASIC is true and correct. It is also an offence to fail to update the Financial Advisers Register within 30 business days of a financial adviser’s details changing,” ASIC warned.

Any information that is still recorded incorrectly after August 1, ASIC continued, will force it to consider enforcement action.

“This will remain a key focus for ASIC in the lead up to 1 January 2026, when all financial advisers must comply with the qualification standard, either by completing an approved qualification, by completing qualifications the Minister has determined to be equivalent to an approved qualification for existing advisers, or by accessing the experienced provider pathway.”

ASIC advised that it has also responded to issues identified with the FAR in light of the recent introduction of the experienced provider pathway, which exempted advisers with ten years of experience and a clean record from meeting the approved degree qualification.

Accordingly, the FAR no longer states whether an adviser’s education and training meets the “approved” qualification. Instead, the registry will simply display the information provided by the licensee about an adviser’s relevant training and qualifications.