The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has lodged an expression of interest to administer a higher education and ethics compliance scheme for financial advisers.

It has created a legal entity called Code Monitoring Australia, and proposes to run the compliance scheme for FPA and non-FPA advisers. It is working to achieve required outcomes under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) regulatory guide governing professional standards and oversight of compliance schemes.

Association CEO Dante De Gori says advisers and their clients can operate under a professional scheme rather than an expensive commercial alternative that will not understand the depth of various business models available.

Under government reforms, advisers must comply with a code of ethics and have their compliance monitored and enforced by an ASIC-approved scheme from 2020.

Before approving a compliance scheme, ASIC will consider the competence of the monitoring body’s staff, its processes and the resources it intends to use, and the number of advisers covered by the scheme.

The deadline for expressions of interest to ASIC was October 31.