Financial advice industry associations have welcomed the Federal Government’s education transition plans for existing operators.

Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) CEO Brad Fox says many of the concerns raised by advisers have been addressed.

“We do not want to lose some of our most experienced advisers from the industry, so we are pleased to see a commonsense approach to the new standards has been applied,” he said.

Financial Planning Association (FPA) CEO Dante De Gori is happy the Government is proceeding with the reforms and creating a new standards body.

“We welcome the proposal to establish a standard-setting body, and in particular the assurance it will have appropriate input and representation from industry, education professionals and consumers,” he said.

“The FPA has long been an advocate for raising the professional and educational standards of advisers.”

But Mark Sinclair, MD of adviser training business Mentor Education, believes the forthcoming education legislation should distinguish between operators giving comprehensive advice and those giving limited advice.

“Life insurance and other advisers seeking to provide personal advice in self-managed super funds and who limit their advice to retail clients should be exempt from the requirement to do a fully fledged degree,” he said.

“At an absolute minimum, these limited financial advisers should have completed that subset of a bachelor of financial planning degree, comprising two foundation subjects, with ethics being mandatory. [There is] also a minimum of three core subjects focusing on their area of interest or specialisation, making a minimum of five units altogether.”

Dr Sinclair says advisers who want to provide full financial plans should undertake the 24-subject bachelor of financial advice degree.