By Jayson Forrest - Managing Editor - IMAP Perspectives
Jenny Mulders - IMAP Regulatory Group
Financial advisers will be granted an additional three months to meet their required 40 hour CPD requirement.
The decision to provide relief for advisers with their CPD requirements was made by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) in response to business disruption caused by COVID-19.
In making this announcement, FASEA said it recognised the challenges for advisers during these unprecedented circumstances, making completion of planned CPD offerings difficult.
According to FASEA, the 3 month extension is a one-off, in recognition of the difficulties faced by advisers this year.
However, advisers will be required to complete 40 hours of CPD in 12 months in future CPD years and may not double count hours across the years.
Video conferencing and/or webinar technology options, which are a core part of IMAP’s services, are considered appropriate alternatives to face-to-face offerings.
COVID-19 restrictions impact approach to training
FASEA said it will consult on a legislative instrument amendment to give effect to this one-off extension.
In recognition of the difficulty in attending face-to-face training due to COVID-19 restrictions, FASEA encourages advisers to utilise solutions being offered by licensee CPD programs and providers that contain online learning as part of a led or conducted CPD program.
We are relieved to see some leeway for financial advisers recently with the extension to the educations standards finally being legislated and the relaxation of the CPD year to allow for COVID-19 disruption
IMAP provides FASEA with a supplementary submission
Jenny Mulders – Chair of IMAP’s Regulatory Group commented, “The meeting with Stephen Glenfield last week was positive. We sent a supplementary submission summarising our goal and recommendation. Mr Glenfield is planning to present the IMAP submission to the FASEA Board for consideration along with other industry submissions.”
“The IMAP regulatory team made a consolidated presentation to IMAP which we hope will help in moving the FASEA Standard 3 to a more user friendly and clear wording”, said Mulders.
IMAP Regulatory Group
The IMAP Regulatory Group includes representatives of The Fold Legal, Holley Nethercote, Implemented Portfolios, Macquarie and Praemium, and is chaired by Jenny Mulders of QRC Consulting.