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PostSubject: latest circular from FSB on Afrikaans exams   News Releases EmptyWed Apr 27, 2011 12:01 pm

Attached is the latest circular (4) from the FSB in terms of the exams to be written in Afrikaans.
Importance notice:
Registration must happen before 31 May and must form part of pilot exams in order to get an extention (date not established)
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circular 4 (2011) on Afrikaans RE exams
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PostSubject: Latest on the Ausie Market re exams   News Releases EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 7:46 am

Of interest looks like our Re exams are very much in line where Oz is going with their pressure on industry upliftment.

 



This article has been forwarded to you from Complinet by pstephan@asisa.org.za

Message:

Financial planners prepare for new professional standards

Apr 08 2011 Wietske Blees in Sydney

The Australian financial planning industry is at a regulatory crossroad that will force practitioners to make a choice: either transition towards meeting new professional standards or leave the industry. This week the Australian Securities and Investments Commission published a set of proposals to lift the standard of advice provided by advisers. The reforms follow a major inquiry into the industry, which suffered significant reputational damage with the collapse of financial service providers such as Opes Prime and Storm Financial.

The changes outlined in Consultation paper 153 were designed to ensure that all financial advisers are adequately qualified to provide advice. The regulator is concerned by the low standard that has been achieved with the existing RG146 qualification, which gives people the ability to advise clients on financial matters after just a few weeks' training.

Instead, the regulator has proposed setting a Financial Services Competency Certification exam, which all new and existing financial advisers who provide "tier one" financial advice would need to pass. In addition, all new financial advisers would be supervised by a planner with at least five years' industry experience for their first full year in the job.

To ensure that financial advisers remain up-to-speed with changes to laws, market issues and new products, they will also have to sit a "knowledge update review" every three years. The regulator has called for feedback on the proposals by 1 June 2011.

Taxing times

In addition to the ASIC reforms, the government has set out new qualifications for financial planners who provide tax advice. Bill Shorten, the minister for financial services, said that in future financial advisers would need to gain a qualification to provide different types of financial services ? including incidental tax advice.

Under the changes financial planners will be able to provide "general factual tax information", but not tax advice, unless they gain a new qualification. Planners will have to register with the Tax Practitioners Board before they can provide full tax agent services. The Practitioners' Board and ASIC are also consulting on the level of qualifications that will be needed to ensure quality advice is provided and that consumers can rely on this advice.

"For consumers, this means they can expect to receive quality financial planning services that include competent advice on related tax issues," Bill Shorten said.

The new regulations will take effect from July 2012, but there will be a three-year transition period after that date for planners and advisers to confirm their qualifications.

Planning for the future

The Financial Planning Association, meanwhile, has been running its own campaign to improve the image of the industry. At an extraordinary meeting held in Melbourne yesterday, 94 per cent of members voted in favour of a new three-year strategic plan that aims to "elevate financial planning as a universally respected profession."

"This is the long-awaited beginning for our members to rebuild trust in their community that professional financial planners take utmost responsibility for delivering on a core promise of professional and ethical behaviour," said FPA chairman Matthew Rowe. "This requires all FPA members to not only act in the public interest, but be seen to do so. It also means we as a professional body will set upward education requirements, endorse higher standards and adhere to a strict code of professional practice."

The question of professionalism in the industry has long been a contentious one. In the wake of the financial crisis there has been a series of enquiries and reform proposals affecting the financial planning sector.

In November 2009, the Ripoll report identified serious shortcomings in the national curriculum for financial planners. The report stated: "The major criticism of the current system is that licensees' minimum training standards for advisers are too low, particularly given the complexity of many financial products."

The government responded to the Parliamentary Joint Committee's recommendations in April 2010 with the Future of Financial Advice package. One of the proposed reforms was to establish an Expert Advisory Panel to "review professional standards in the financial advice industry, including conduct and competency standards, which may include a code of ethics for financial advisers".

The legislation implementing the majority of the reforms will commence from 1 July 2012. In the meantime, the government is continuing to consult the industry on the practical implementation of the reforms.
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PostSubject: Latest Inseta Press Release   News Releases EmptyMon Apr 11, 2011 9:20 am

INSETA PRESS RELEASE

 

INSETA, the sector training authority for the insurance sector, has now been given the green light by the Financial Services Board (FSB) to make its FAIS Regulatory Examination learning material available to stakeholders. This follows an initial concern raised by the FSB in a letter which necessitated the sending of a cautionary notice to stakeholders.

INSETA and the FSB met on the 4th of April 2011 to discuss the concerns that the FSB had raised in a letter to INSETA on the quality of the learning material. INSETA had commissioned a provider to prepare learning material on all the FAIS RE examinations, in order to assist industry in their preparations. The learning material was designed in a user friendly manner and is based on the Specified Qualifying Criteria. The material went through a rigorous quality assurance process which included insurance industry subject matter experts and associations. The material is available on the INSETA website and can be downloaded free of charge to anyone wanting to make use of it.

INSETA CEO Sandra Dunn advises “We will continue to make the material available to industry free of charge to assist industry to meet the regulatory examinations deadlines. INSETA has, since the inception of FAIS, supported industry in meeting FAIS requirements through discretionary grant funding. “INSETA regularly consults with industry associations like IISA and FIA in order to keep abreast with the skills needs and priorities of the insurance industry. Feedback received nationally, is that the FAIS RE material is of a good quality and many people have made use of the material in their preparations and have passed the examinations.

In order to pass the FAIS RE multiple choice examination questions, it is necessary to prepare thoroughly. The self test questions featured in the INSETA learning material are provided to assist the learner with the revision of the material. They are in no way intended to be variations of the FAIS RE Examination questions. The FSB has not made past question papers available and will not be doing so. Flowing from the discussions with the FSB, INSETA has now placed preparation guidelines on its website to assist stakeholders with the steps they need to follow in order to be fully prepared for the examinations. INSETA will be conducting a survey of learners in our sector to establish what their experiences of using the FAIS RE material in their preparations for the examinations were. The outcome of the survey will be fed back to all stakeholders.
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PostSubject: Re: News Releases   News Releases EmptyThu Apr 07, 2011 5:24 pm

DavidK wrote:
Hi Andrew

I know ssems confusing, but what you can have is a corporate representive, and then within that corporate representitive you will have a KI looking after representitives of that corporate. However the main licence hold der will be responsible.

EG Company A appoints Company B as a representitive. Then Company B appoints Mt A as the KI for Comopnay B
So if a rep appointed by KI at company B no longer qualifies as 'fit and proper', that rep, the KI at company B and the KI at company A must all be removed from the FSB's list. No questions, no recourse, no appeal, simply fired and find another industry to work in or wait 5 years and re-apply? Make sense to you? Bearing in mind the rep could be an 18 year old in a call centre selling 'credit life' , the KI's are CA's CFP's etc?! Is this 'law' going to improve the industry/ make it more professional and ultimately protect the consumer more, which I believe is the FSB's motto? I have my doubts..........
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PostSubject: @andrew   News Releases EmptyThu Apr 07, 2011 11:30 am

Hi Andrew

I know ssems confusing, but what you can have is a corporate representive, and then within that corporate representitive you will have a KI looking after representitives of that corporate. However the main licence hold der will be responsible.

EG Company A appoints Company B as a representitive. Then Company B appoints Mt A as the KI for Comopnay B
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Andrew M van Dam




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PostSubject: Re: News Releases   News Releases EmptyWed Apr 06, 2011 8:39 am

Hi regpitcher. Well done! How would you have felt if you'd got 64% ?! Do you not agree though that there are some strange things in the Act, or maybe I'm not understanding it too well. If a Rep has to be removed from the register, all the KI's of the representative must be removed too?! (sec 14(1)). I thought the KI's had reps working under them, I don't understand how the Rep can have KI's working under him/her?
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PostSubject: RE Exams   News Releases EmptyTue Apr 05, 2011 7:51 pm

I wrote rep and KI exam two weeks ago and got results today.80% for reps and 68% on KI.Used study material from Inseta and studied for about 20 hours.The exams were not difficult but tricky.I used Leselo in Cape Town as examining body.You just have to be positive and you will get through.I am 64.
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PostSubject: FAIS   News Releases EmptyTue Apr 05, 2011 4:29 pm

I was so eager to write my RE exam and went off and booked my seat at the DLI in Durban for tomorrow. Spent the whole weekend indoors studying the FAIS act etc, only to be called this afternoon at 2 to be told I was the only one booked and it won't be happening. I'll be notified when there are enough seats booked to warrant an invigilator actually being available. Who has written? Where? Is there anyone who could please re-write the Act and BN's in plain simple language that makes sense. It would probably cover no more than 20 pages in all. What a load of repetitive contradicting confusing uselessly translated garbage!
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PostSubject: News Releases   News Releases EmptyTue Apr 05, 2011 9:30 am

Please find attached a recent release from Inseta regarding an FSB enquiry into the quality of material.
Attachments
News Releases AttachmentInseta Cautionary.pdf
Inseta Cautionary
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