Compassion should be given to those advisers who have not yet passed the financial adviser exam, according to the AFA’s Phil Anderson, as he called on advisers to help those who had failed.
Speaking at an AFA roadshow in Sydney, Anderson said figures from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) showed there were 882 advisers who had qualified for the exam extension.
While the ASIC figure counted those who had failed the exam twice, some candidates were having to sit it as many as six times before they passed.
Anderson said: “One thing we want to be clear about is we think a lot of advisers in that category are really good advisers. But they have struggled with the exam and that might be because of mindset issues or exam technique, it doesn’t mean they don’t know their stuff.
“It’s been really challenging and has threatened their self-esteem, they are ashamed they have not passed the exam.
“We see all the comments on the trade media, condemning people for not having passed and I ask that we show some compassion and we help if we know people are struggling with it. You may just be able to help them with their mindset or their exam technique.”
Referencing the Quality of Advice Review, he said he hoped it would achieve a reduction in regulatory uncertainty, regulatory relief and direct action to increase adviser numbers, among others.
Members’ views on the review were mixed with 32% saying they were “mildly optimistic”, 36% “mildly pessimistic” and 20% undecided.
“There are more who were pessimistic than optimistic and that reflects the fatigue we have all gone through. But I really think this is our big chance and I want people to get engaged with the review and to see some blue sky ideas,” Anderson said.
