{"id":81461,"date":"2026-03-17T12:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=81461"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:28:39","slug":"move-to-rebuild-adviser-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2026\/03\/17\/move-to-rebuild-adviser-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Move to Rebuild Adviser Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has released a consultation paper<\/a>\u00a0on proposed changes to financial adviser education standards as part of its push to improve consumer access to advice.<\/p>\n

Its proposed reforms aim to create a more flexible and sustainable pathway into the profession, following a well-documented decline in adviser numbers in recent years \u2013 numbers have dropped from around 28,000 a decade ago to 15,000 today.<\/p>\n

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Dr Daniel Mulino<\/strong> said limited access to trusted advice has left some consumers vulnerable to predatory lead generation practices and high-pressure sales tactics.<\/p>\n

\"Dr
Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister, Dr Daniel Mulino.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under the proposals, he said new entrants would still be required to hold a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher, alongside minimum study requirements in disciplines such as finance, economics or accounting.<\/p>\n

In addition, candidates would need to complete core financial advice subjects covering ethics, legal and regulatory obligations, consumer behaviour and the fundamentals of advice.<\/p>\n

Existing professional standards would remain in place, including the requirement to complete a professional year, pass the financial adviser exam and undertake ongoing continuing professional development.<\/p>\n

The consultation forms part of Government\u2019s broader financial services reform agenda, including its DBFO package, which is designed to strengthen the advice sector\u2019s capacity to meet growing consumer demand.<\/p>\n

…changes would benefit both consumers and those seeking to enter the financial advice profession…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It also complements a separate consultation on managed investment scheme reforms released in February, as well as upcoming work focused on consumer protections within the superannuation sector.<\/p>\n

Mulino said the changes would benefit both consumers and those seeking to enter the financial advice profession by streamlining education pathways while maintaining robust standards.<\/p>\n

One of the key barriers has been the current inflexible and highly prescriptive tertiary degree requirements…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sarah Abood<\/strong>, CEO of the FAAA, said only 464 financial advisers entered the profession last year, and that there needs to be a “substantial” increase of new entrants.<\/p>\n

\"Sarah
Sarah Abood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“One of the key barriers has been the current inflexible and highly prescriptive tertiary degree requirements,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The numbers enrolling in these degrees have been low, and six qualifying courses were discontinued last year for this reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have long advocated for more flexible degree pathways including recognising more relevant studies that may have been undertaken in related degrees.”<\/p>\n

FSC CEO Blake Briggs<\/strong> responded to the announcement saying that reforming the current education framework is an important step toward addressing the sharp decline in adviser numbers and improving access to trusted financial advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent education standards are unnecessarily restrictive, creating barriers for both aspiring advisers and existing professionals trying to meet the requirements,” he said.<\/p>\n

Briggs added that the proposed reforms would create a more flexible pathway into the profession while maintaining strong professional safeguards.<\/p>\n

Consultation on the proposed education reforms is now open via the Treasury website and will close 17 April 2026.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to access the Treasury consultation paper.<\/p>\n

Shadow Assistant Treasurer<\/strong><\/p>\n

In other Government news, the FAAA welcomed the appointment of Kevin Hogan<\/strong> MP as Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.<\/p>\n

Abood said Hogan\u2019s professional background in financial services will give him insight into Australians\u2019 financial advice needs as well as those of the financial advice community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Government has released a consultation paper\u00a0on proposed changes to financial adviser education standards as part of its push to improve consumer access to advice. Its proposed reforms aim to create a more flexible and sustainable pathway into the profession, following a well-documented decline in adviser numbers in recent years \u2013 numbers have dropped from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":81470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6994,8282,248],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-compliance-regulation","category-education","category-government","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}