ASIC has announced changes to the reporting dates in respect of the transition to the new financial adviser professional standards reforms. Background.

Financial advisers who are authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients must place their names on the Financial Advisers Register (FAR) before 1 January 2019 to ensure that they are not immediately required to satisfy the exam and qualification requirements.

Financial advisers listed on FAR before 1 January 2019 and not banned, suspended or disqualified as at 1 January 2019 will be considered to be ‘existing providers’ and so will not be immediately subjected to the new qualification requirements.

Without recognition as an ‘existing provider’, an adviser must pass an exam and complete an approved qualification by 1 January 2019 to work as a financial adviser. They must also undertake a year of work and training.

If a person is an ‘existing provider’, they have until 1 January 2021 to pass the exam, and 1 January 2024 to complete an approved qualification. In the meantime, they can continue to work as a financial adviser.

An existing provider can use the terms ‘financial adviser’ and ‘financial planner’ from 1 January 2019 provided they satisfy the relevant requirements that apply to them at any given time.