ASIC exam pass mark falls to 2022 lows

6 September 2024
| By Laura Dew |
image
image
expand image

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.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

GG

So shareholders lose a dividend plus have seen the erosion of value. Qantas decides to clawback remuneration from Alan ...

2 months 1 week ago
Denise Baker

This is why I left my last position. There was no interest in giving the client quality time, it was all about bumping ...

2 months 1 week ago
gonski

So the Hayne Royal Commission has left us with this. What a sad day for the financial planning industry. Clearly most ...

2 months 1 week ago

A Sydney-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services in the interest of consumer protection after failing to act on conduct concerns. ...

3 weeks 2 days ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a $250 million Sydney fund manager, one of two AFSL cancellations announced by the corporate regulator....

3 weeks ago

Having divested its advice business in August, AMP is undergoing restructuring in at least four other departments amid a cost simplification program....

2 weeks 4 days ago