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ASIC extends date for financial adviser registration requirement

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Key points

  • ASIC is extending the date by which financial advisers must be registered to 1 February 2024.
  • After the passes into law, ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ will issue regulatory guidance, conduct webinars, and open the registration portal to commence accepting applications for registration.

ASIC is extending the date by which relevant providers – financial advisers who provide personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products (including time share advisers) – must be registered. Relevant providers will now need to be registered by 1 February 2024. The reason for the further extension is that the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 1) Bill (the Bill) remains before parliament.

A further extension to the registration requirement will allow additional time for:

  • Parliament to consider the improvements proposed by the Bill;
  • ASIC to assist the financial advice industry to understand and comply with the registration requirement by issuing regulatory guidance and conducting webinars; and
  • Australian financial service (AFS) licensees to understand the registration requirement and to make necessary applications to register their relevant providers with ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥.

Background

The requirement for financial advisers to be registered was introduced by the , in response to Recommendation 2.10 of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

On 1 November 2022, Government announced that it would delay the financial adviser registration requirement until 1 July 2023 to allow certain improvements to be made to the Stage 1 registration

requirement. These improvements were introduced by Government on 16 February 2023 in the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No.1) Bill 2023.

On 30 May 2023, ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ announced that it would delay the date by which Relevant Providers must be registered to 1 October 2023. On 20 September 2023, ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ further delayed the date by which Relevant Providers must be registered to 1 February 2024.

ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.