October's arrival heralds a countdown for the country's financial advisers, who have until the end of the month to register to sit exams for authorisation.New rules to be introduced in July require financial service providers, including financial advisers
October’s arrival heralds a countdown for the country’s financial advisers, who have until the end of the month to register to sit exams for authorisation.
New rules to be introduced in July require financial service providers, including financial advisers, to register with the ETITO to sit examinations and assessment in time for the July 1 authorisation deadline.
Exams can be sat between October 29 and the end of March, however the ETITO is encouraging advisers to start the process early, to avoid bottlenecks early next year.
The Securities Commission has also reinforced the March 31 deadline to apply for authorisation, to ensure applications are processed by July 1.
The ETITO has estimated between 5000 and 7500 advisers will be seeking authorisation under twin pieces of legislation – the Financial Advisers Act and the Financial Service Providers Act – both to be in force by July.
Representing a broad overhaul of the rules governing the provision of financial advice, the Acts require all financial service providers to be publicly registered and, if they provide retail services, to belong to an approved dispute resolution scheme.
Commerce Minister Simon Power last week approved an industry Code of Conduct for professional financial advisers – to ensure authorised financial advisers meet minimum standards of ethics and competency.
Mr Power said he was confident the code would hold the country’s financial advisers to higher standards of competency.
