Existing advisers

To be recognised as an existing provider a person must, among other requirements, have been authorised to provide personal advice on 'relevant financial products' between 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2019. In general, this will mean that the adviser was listed on the Financial Advisers Register at any time between 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2019.

'Relevant financial products' are financial products other than basic banking products, general insurance products or consumer credit insurance: see section 910A of the Corporations Act 2001.

Financial advisers who are existing providers have until 1 January 2026 to meet the education standards via one of the following pathways:

  1. Approved degree
  2. Relevant degree
  3. Non-relevant degree
  4. No degree

Education standards

Depending on their current qualifications, an existing financial adviser may only need to do between one and three bridging course units or may need to undertake an eight unit graduate diploma.

Approved degree

An approved degree is a degree that is listed in the Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021. Existing advisers who have completed an approved degree will need to complete the Ethics for Professional Advisers bridging course to comply with the new standards, unless otherwise specified in the current legislative instrument.

Before enrolling in a course, it is vital to check the current legislative instrument to confirm the course is approved.

Relevant degree

A relevant degree is defined as:

  • a course completed that is a bachelor (AQF7) level, graduate diploma (AQF8) level or masters (AQF9) level qualification in a related field of study that contains at least eight courses in one or more of the following designated fields of study in any combination which may be across multiple degrees:
    • financial planning, investments, accounting, taxation/tax law, finance law, finance, business law, estate law, banking, and economics.

Foreign qualification

If you have completed a foreign qualification, you may apply to have that qualification assessed against the financial adviser education requirements.