The experience pathway for financial advisers

Those who meet the defined circumstances outlined in these new transitional arrangements for experienced providers, will be taken to have met the education and training standards.

In this article, we explore the requirements needed to utilise this pathway. The passage and Royal Assent of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No.3) Act 2023 cements the experience pathway as an alternative way for experienced advisers to meet the education and training standards.

To rely on this pathway, there are several components that need to be met.

Experienced adviser

The first component is to be deemed an 'experienced provider'. A person will be considered an experienced provider if:

• they are an individual who was authorised to provide personal advice to a retail client for a minimum of 10 years - which need not be consecutive - during the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2021, and
• they had a clean disciplinary record as at 31 December 2021.
• A clean record means:
  • never been banned or disqualified under Division 8 of Part 7.6 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), and
  • never given an undertaking under section 93AA or section 171E of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001, (ASIC Act).

The second component aligns the experience pathway to the existing requirements under the transitional provisions in relation to the financial adviser exam for existing providers.

An experienced provider will need to meet the exam standard outlined in Section 921 B(3) of the Corporations Act.

If an existing provider fails to meet this requirement, they will cease to be an existing provider and will be unable to use the experience pathway.