Planners aren’t the only financial advice staff expected to hold a degree under new educational standards announced by the Commonwealth Bank.
Following an earlier pronouncement that all new advisers operating under the Commonwealth Financial Planning license will be required to hold a degree in finance, business, commerce or a related field (see: CBA Commits to Adviser Associations, Education Benchmarks), the CBA has determined that its new education standards will also apply to licensee staff employed in supervisory roles.
Executive General Manager, Wealth Management Advice, Marianne Perkovic, confirmed that increased education standards will be introduced for advisers and licensee staff operating under the Financial Wisdom and Count Financial licenses.
As a minimum requirement, current authorised representatives of Count and Financial Wisdom, and existing staff within these firms and practices who provide support to advisers, will be required to hold either:
- An Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning or equivalent
- A degree in finance, business, commerce or a related field
- A Certified Financial Practitioner or Fellow Chartered Financial Practitioner professional designation, or a Masters in Financial Planning
- A degree in any field plus an accounting designation with one of the Joint Accounting bodies
Existing advisers and licensee staff will have until 31 December 2017 to transition to the new standards. New advisers applying to join Count or Financial Wisdom from 22 October 2014 will also be required to hold one of the above qualifications, as well as three years’ advice experience if they have only attained an Advanced Diploma.
Today’s announcements are part of our ongoing strategy designed to raise our professional standards
“Applying these educational standards across the CBA Wealth Management Advice business is an important step in ensuring the financial planning industry is recognised as a profession,” Ms Perkovic said.
CBA is also committing to making membership of a relevant financial services industry association a minimum standard across CBA Wealth Management Advice for both advisers and relevant licensee staff.
“Today’s announcements are part of our ongoing strategy designed to raise our professional standards and make a significant contribution towards increasing the professionalism of the financial planning industry. By being first to apply these new education standards to licensee staff in supervisory and monitoring roles, in addition to authorised representatives, CBA Wealth Management Advice is taking an industry lead role,” Ms Perkovic added.
