ASIC’s recently released CP215 Assessment and approval of training courses for financial product advisers: Update to RG 146 proposed the regulator would remove itself from maintaining the educator’s training register, with ASIC saying it was not well placed to monitor educators.
Responding to a recent InvestorDaily article on the subject, Kaplan said it believed ASIC was “totally correct” in saying it should not take the role of monitoring financial services education providers.
Kaplan agreed this function should be left to the various education regulators and registered training organisations (RTOs). Higher education providers and industry associations should be left to assess courses.
The training register has now served its original purpose and licensees and industry bodies now understand what courses and training providers meet their needs, argued Kaplan.
“It is our view that being on the ASIC register did not include any assessment that guaranteed the quality of training,” Kaplan said.
“By now, most licensees know which courses are rigorous and effective in preparing advisers for the role and which ones are superficial and not thoroughly assessed,” Kaplan added.
The educator said the removal of the register would mean licensees would have to judge the quality of training of candidates, rather than whether the course completed was on the register.
Kaplan added it was “extremely confident” most licensees would embrace the change.
Although there are other providers that offer “quick and easy” solutions, licensees and industry bodies do not encourage advisers to complete them, Kaplan said.
ASIC’s newly stated position will further encourage that stance, according to Kaplan, which backed the regulation of the Australian Skills Quality Authority and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
“CP215 and CP212 coupled with the lifting of standards by industry associations such as [the Association of Financial Advisers and Financial Planning Association] are all about supporting the industry to raise professionalism,” Kaplan said.
