The financial services sector’s peak body for education and training has announced its closure due to a lack of funding from the Federal Government.

The Financial Services Education Agency Australia (FSEAA) will close in September, leaving the industry without a voice on the specific training and education needs of the financial services sector.

Submissions on education, training and policy will be made through the Industry Skills Council, which covers a wide gamut of industries including banking, financials services, insurance, creative industries and IT.

FSEAA GM Catherine Chaffey told Sunrise Exchange News the decision to close was made largely to protect the independence of the agency.

“Over the past three years ongoing funding that ensured our continuity has often been difficult to achieve at sustainable levels,” she said. “We could have gone down the track of a membership-based model, but then our advice is owned and driven by particular group of members.

“We weren’t growing and we weren’t able to grow without recurrent funding. Operating in that environment, the board decided we couldn’t keep going on this basis.”

Ms Chaffey says the industry will suffer from a knowledge gap without a specialist government representative.

“The expertise required in financial services is quite complex, particularly with the regulatory environment,” she said. “I don’t believe that sort of knowledge is available from any source that is representing the wider industry.”

Former FSEAA Chair Linda Evans, who also sits on the Industry Skills Council board and is the National Insurance Brokers Association’s Professional Development Executive, says the FSEAA’s closure is regrettable.

“It’s a very useful body and it’s a shame it won’t be continuing,” she said. “It’s very hard to get your industry’s needs identified when you are working in a large multi-industry structure.