The Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) enforcement of its education and training standards for financial providers has come under fire from ANZIIF.

In a submission to the regulator's consultation paper on revising Regulatory Guide 146:Training of financial product advice (RG146), Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) CEO Joan Fitzpatrick argues enforcement of RG146 has been inadequate.

"ASIC has not effectively enforced the minimum standards of RG146. Without effective enforcement practices the system degenerates into at best a situation of de facto self regulation," Ms Fitzpatrick said.

She says outsourcing the management of the ASIC register of training providers could improve compliance standards.

"ANZIIF would welcome a decision from ASIC to outsource management of the ASIC register to an independent body of expert educationalists such as Innovation and Business Skills Australia.

"The independent body should be empowered to a role of monitoring and ensuring quality standards amongst the providers listed. The outsourced arrangement must be competent and must be given the opportunity and authority to police and audit the register effectively," she said.

National Insurance Brokers Association Professional Development Executive Linda Evans supports the institute's call to revert to an independent overseer.

"We'd support a move for that type of body to look after the register as they have the expertise that ASIC doesn't have."

Ms Evans says the register needs to be more user-friendly, whether it is managed in-house or externally.

"One of the criticisms that the industry has had is that there is a very broad range of training programs and they are often limited... another difficulty with the register is that people can't always interpret the entries.

"Even if they retain it in-house, there are a number of improvements that could be made."

ASIC is currently evaluating submissions and is planning to issue revised standards in December.