Approved Financial Planners Support Proposed Reform of Educational Requirements
Announcement posted by Approved Financial Planners 15 Dec 2014
Financial planning firm in Perth lends support to recent Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) Proposal.
Perth, WA, 15 December 2014 - Recently, the FPA submitted a proposal to the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC), requesting that educational standards for financial planners and advisors be elevated. Approved Financial Planners, a financial planning firm in Perth, recently offered their support in a post on their company blog, stating that they fully support elevation of industry standards and that it “can’t happen fast enough.”
The proposal from the FPA is a nine-point plan which would provide a structure for enhanced education and regulation of the financial services industry. A brief description of the highlights appears below.
Highlights of FPA Proposal
To become qualified to dispense tier 1 financial advice, a new financial planner or advisor would be required to obtain an AQF7 level degree and prove one year’s experience in the field over the previous three by 1 January 2018.
Those who are already financial planners or financial advisors would have until 1 January 2019 to become compliant with the new standards.
The RG146 curriculum would be replaced by a holistic curriculum providing a solid educational framework for educating financial planners and advisors. The Financial Planning Education Council would be responsible for approving an enhanced AQF7 curriculum.
Financial planners would be required to complete 90 hours or points of continuing professional development (CPD) courses every three years.
The new requirements would supercede the old requirement to take the national exam.
Then Professional Standards Council and other organisations would create appropriate criteria to recognise professional bodies.
Those professional bodies would work together to co-regulate the financial field and enhance consumer protection and consumer confidence.
Only those who are certified members of a professional body would be allowed to call themselves a financial planner or financial advisor.
General advice would be confined to factual information or factual explanations concerning products.
Why Approved Financial Planners are in Favour of Educational Reform
According to Dan Stevens, a financial planner at Approved Financial Planners in Perth, the financial industry needs financial reform:
“For too long, people who aren’t qualified to give financial advice have been allowed to become certified and work in the field. Both Approved Financial Planners and our parent company, AMP, are strongly in favour of educational reform. We both have internal company standards that are far higher than the minimums required to provide financial advice. New standards would force everyone to elevate their standards closer to what we feel should be the norm.”
Mr Stevens continued: “The proposed standards would be good for the industry as a whole, but the most important consideration is its impact on the consumer. Consumers would know that the person giving them financial advice was actually qualified to do so. That would eliminate many of the horror stories we hear on a daily basis.”
Mr Stevens concluded, “It’s time to make the financial services industry safe for everyone who trusts us with their financial future.”
Approved Financial Planners is a financial services firm which offers financial planning, wealth protection and self managed superannuation fund services. They are located in Perth and are associated with parent company AMP. To learn more about Approved Financial Planners, call 1300 787 274 or visit their website: http://www.approvedfp.com.au/.
General Advice Warning
What you need to know
Any advice contained in this Page is of a general nature only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Therefore, before making any decision, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice with regard to those matters.
The proposal from the FPA is a nine-point plan which would provide a structure for enhanced education and regulation of the financial services industry. A brief description of the highlights appears below.
Highlights of FPA Proposal
To become qualified to dispense tier 1 financial advice, a new financial planner or advisor would be required to obtain an AQF7 level degree and prove one year’s experience in the field over the previous three by 1 January 2018.
Those who are already financial planners or financial advisors would have until 1 January 2019 to become compliant with the new standards.
The RG146 curriculum would be replaced by a holistic curriculum providing a solid educational framework for educating financial planners and advisors. The Financial Planning Education Council would be responsible for approving an enhanced AQF7 curriculum.
Financial planners would be required to complete 90 hours or points of continuing professional development (CPD) courses every three years.
The new requirements would supercede the old requirement to take the national exam.
Then Professional Standards Council and other organisations would create appropriate criteria to recognise professional bodies.
Those professional bodies would work together to co-regulate the financial field and enhance consumer protection and consumer confidence.
Only those who are certified members of a professional body would be allowed to call themselves a financial planner or financial advisor.
General advice would be confined to factual information or factual explanations concerning products.
Why Approved Financial Planners are in Favour of Educational Reform
According to Dan Stevens, a financial planner at Approved Financial Planners in Perth, the financial industry needs financial reform:
“For too long, people who aren’t qualified to give financial advice have been allowed to become certified and work in the field. Both Approved Financial Planners and our parent company, AMP, are strongly in favour of educational reform. We both have internal company standards that are far higher than the minimums required to provide financial advice. New standards would force everyone to elevate their standards closer to what we feel should be the norm.”
Mr Stevens continued: “The proposed standards would be good for the industry as a whole, but the most important consideration is its impact on the consumer. Consumers would know that the person giving them financial advice was actually qualified to do so. That would eliminate many of the horror stories we hear on a daily basis.”
Mr Stevens concluded, “It’s time to make the financial services industry safe for everyone who trusts us with their financial future.”
Approved Financial Planners is a financial services firm which offers financial planning, wealth protection and self managed superannuation fund services. They are located in Perth and are associated with parent company AMP. To learn more about Approved Financial Planners, call 1300 787 274 or visit their website: http://www.approvedfp.com.au/.
General Advice Warning
What you need to know
Any advice contained in this Page is of a general nature only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Therefore, before making any decision, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice with regard to those matters.