ASIC exam pass mark falls to 2022 lows
ASIC has released the pass mark for its August financial advice exam.
Some 231 people sat the exam, including 170 who were sitting the exam for the first time.
The pass mark was 62 per cent, representing 143 candidates.
This is the lowest percentage of candidates who have passed since November 2022 when only 57 per cent passed.
| Exam sitting | Pass mark |
| August 2024 | 62% |
| June 2024 | 70% |
| March 2024 | 70% |
| November 2023 | 66% |
| August 2023 | 73% |
| May 2023 | 63% |
| February 2023 | 67% |
| November 2022 | 57% |
ASIC said unsuccessful candidates will receive general feedback from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), who administer the exam, on areas where they underperformed.
To date, 21,430 individual candidates have sat the exam.
The next exam will be held on 7 November, and indicative dates for exams in 2025 are on 6 March, 5 June, 7 August, and 6 November.
Earlier this year, a financial adviser who had falsified his exam result saw a permanent ban from ASIC varied by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to seven years.
Todd Karamian was permanently banned in March 2023 for falsifying the result of his financial adviser exam from a fail to a pass. He sat the exam in November 2021, having already rescheduled it three times. This was the final sitting he could take in order to maintain his status as a relevant provider on 1 January 2022.
When he received his result, he detailed how he “sat in shock” and realised there were no further sittings available to retake the exam. He then manually changed it and continued to provide financial advice at licensee Bluepoint, where he had worked since 2003, to 11 clients when he was not a relevant provider.
In the AAT orders, Justice Kyrou said the decision to vary the ban had been taken based on their expert evidence about Karamian’s mental health, a prior good record over many years, and extensive favourable character evidence. He also outlined that the applicant was remorseful, took responsibility for the action, and there was a low risk of him doing the same action again.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
While the August financial advice exam saw a lower pass rate of 62 per cent compared with 70 per cent in previous sittings, this expert believes it’s for a positive reason.
With the FY24 reporting season behind us, five major financial advice licensees are looking to achieve growth either through inorganic activity or internal expansion.
An alleged involvement with an insurance claims business has led the Federal Court to vary the orders of a banned adviser to add the threat of jail time.
The investment platform has announced several improvements, enabling advisers to create more bespoke solutions for clients as well as further exclusion options.
