ASIC chases almost 500 licensees on their FAR updates
Almost 500 AFS licensees received communication from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) earlier this year to update their ceased advisers on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR).
In its annual report, ASIC said it commenced its Financial Advisers Register Review project to ensure the register was accurate and reflected the correct status of advisers who had not yet passed the exam.
If they had not passed and did not qualify for an extension, they were prohibited from providing personal advice to retail clients.
In light of this, the regulator said it wrote to 491 AFS licensees to update 793 advisers’ records to reflect a ceased authorisation on the Financial Advisers Register or for them to provide proof.
“As part of the project in this financial year, ASIC wrote to 491 AFS licensees to update 793 advisers’ records to reflect a ceased authorisation status on the Financial Advisers Register or provide proof of their having passed the financial adviser exam, or their eligibility for the exam extension.
“As at 30 June, 2022, 432 AFS licensees had updated the Financial Advisers Register to change the authorisation status of 696 advisers to ‘ceased’ after receiving correspondence from ASIC.”
Research by Wealth Data found the number of advisers on the FAR had fallen since the ASIC review to 15,917, as of 14 October.
Colin Williams, founder of Wealth Data, said: "This might get licensees in line and I think a very good thing for the consumer. However, regarding qualifications that are a requirement for advisers to practice, I believe ASIC should take them off the FAR.
"The current system is akin to a drunk driver being told by a judge to go home, log into the drivers license database and remove themselves from it. Noting that many of the licensees at fault are actually single adviser licensees whereby the adviser is also the owner".
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
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At a cost of $100 +/- to update the register, $50,000 is a nice windfall for ASIC.
Yes, it is most important that asic keep an accurate record of businesses and lives destroyed to justify their pitiful existence to incompetent government.
So there could be triple digit falls in the next week or two