Securitor is offering two training programs to accountants seeking to provide self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advice to clients.
The BT Financial Group-owned dealer group will offer the programs to accountants who are deemed to be across the government’s Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms or ‘FOFA ready’, the company said.
The training programs the dealer group will provide are: the Accountants Offer and the Enhanced Accountants Offer.
Securitor will provide accountants with “simple, specialised training to help them become technically competent to meet the new legislative requirements”, Securitor and Licensee Select managing director Matt Englund said.
“While we recognise accountants have highly specialised knowledge and relevant industry experience and training, they will need to be an authorised representative in order to continue to provide SMSF advice,” Englund said.
Under the Accountants Offer, accountants will have access to a specialised education program enabling them to continue to provide advice; recognition of previous studies and relevant continuing professional development where appropriate to provide exemptions.
It will also allow them streamlined pathways to meet education requirements where there may be gaps, and give them access to a referral network of Securitor advisers.
Meanwhile, the Enhanced Accountants Offer is a more specialised program for accountants seeking to provide ‘class of product’ advice or financial advice that does not make a recommendation in form or in substance about a specific financial product.
The programs come less than a week after the Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten’s announcement that a new limited Australian financial services licence (AFSL) would be available to accountants.
Last week, the federal government announced the long-awaited licensing regime for accountants servicing SMSF clients that will replace the accountants’ exemption introduced under the Financial Services Reforms in 2002.
Under the new rules, accountants seeking to provide financial advice to SMSFs will need to hold a limited AFSL.
The new license will now allow these accountants to provide advice on SMSFs as well as “class of product advice” on items such as simple managed investment schemes, general and life insurance, securities, and basic deposit products.
However, the limited AFSL will not allow accountants to offer advice where specific product recommendations are made.
