Financial Advisers – Check FAR Details

ASIC has again urged Australian Financial Service licensees ("AFS licensees") and their relevant providers to ensure that all information on the Financial Advisers Register ("FAR") is correct.

In June 2025, ASIC announced it had conducted a second spot check of the FAR. ASIC particularly focused on the accuracy of relevant provider's qualifications on the FAR, to ensure they will meet the obligations coming into force in 2026. From 1 January 2026, all relevant providers will need to meet the qualification standards set out in section 921B(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("qualification standards"). Further, ASIC announced that in the lead up to 1 January 2026, it will continue to monitor the information on the FAR.

Sophie Grace has identified four (4) key action items for AFS licensees and their relevant providers to complete before 1 January 2026:

1. Review your relevant providers':

• qualification(s) to ensure they meet the qualification standards (see point 2 below);
• authorisation history that shows the relevant provider's recent advising history as opposed to their paraplanning or client services roles;
• ability to provide tax (financial) advice services - the relevant provider must have completed the commercial law and taxation law courses prescribed in sections 3-65 and 3-70 of the Corporations (Relevant Providers-Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021 (Cth) to provide this advice from 1 January 2026;
• business address; and
• contact details such as the relevant provider's phone and email address.

2. Review how your relevant providers are currently meeting the qualification standards, namely:

• is the qualification completed or being completed by the relevant provider, one that is approved by the Minister and listed in Schedule 1
• do you have a copy of the completed qualifications listed on the FAR.

Experienced provider pathway: For those relevant providers who are currently listed on the FAR as relying on the experienced provider pathway, AFS licensees should ensure the appropriate self-declaration and evidence is maintained on file. For any relevant providers, seeking to rely on the experience provider pathway, the necessary updates must be made to the FAR after the AFS licensee has received the self-declaration.

3. Update the FAR within thirty (30) business days once you have reviewed the relevant provider's details. Certain changes will incur a fee. You will also need to update the FAR when the relevant provider is no longer appointed as a financial adviser of your AFS licence; and

4. Ensure that all financial advisers are registered as relevant providers beforethey provide personal advice to retail clients. The status on the FAR register will show you whether your financial adviser is registered as a relevant provider.

It is also important to note:

1. It is a serious offence for AFS licensees and relevant providers to knowingly provide false or misleading information on the FAR, or fail to take reasonable steps to ensure that the information on the FAR is correct and true.
2. ASIC intends to undertake a compliance review after 1 January 2026 where it will rely on records on the FAR to determine if relevant providers remain properly authorised to provide personal advice to retail clients.
3. ASIC published a one-off temporary dataset on its website which licensees can use to conduct its review of the relevant provider's details. However, we recommend checking the details directly on the FAR to view the most up to date details.

Sophie Grace can assist with the review of your relevant providers' details on the FAR and help assess whether they satisfy the qualification standards. For further assistance, pleasecontact us.

Further reading

• ASIC renews warning for AFS licensees ahead of deadline for financial advisers
• ASIC pursues licensees after financial advisers gave advice while unregistered
• Registering a relevant provider with ASIC
• ASIC Information Sheet 276: Registration for relevant providers
• Corporations (Relevant Providers Degrees, Qualifications and Courses Standard) Determination 2021 (Cth)
• Corporations (Relevant Providers-Education and Training Standards) Determination 2021
• ASIC Information Sheet 281: Accessing the experienced provider pathway
• Corporations (Relevant Providers Continuing Professional Development Standard) Determination 2018