Training courses warning

Training courses warning

FINANCIAL Services licensees are being warned to check the training they are providing to their representatives complies with Australian Securities and Investments Commission policy.

The warning has been sparked by a case ASIC is investigating where representatives of a licensee undertook training in the belief the course complied with the commission’s policy.

ASIC Policy Statement 146 Licensing: Training of financial product advisers, sets out minimum training standards for people who provide financial product advice to clients. To comply licensees have to ensure their representatives complete appropriate training courses listed on the ASIC Training Register or are individually assessed by an authorised assessor.

ASIC executive director of financial services regulation Ian Johnston said in the case the commission was investigating, the course the representatives had undertaken was not on ASIC’s training register, even though the provider was a registered training organisation.

The moral – licensees need to check that the courses they are undertaking are registered on the ASIC training register, even if the institution offering them is a university or registered training organisation.

The ASIC Training Register is available at www.asic.gov.au/afstraining and can be searched by course name, training provider, location or category of knowledge.