Brian Knight

3 November 2020 marked an ‘end of an era’, according to leading financial services education provider Kaplan Professional, after the national regulator Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) removed the FNS50615 Diploma of Financial Planning, FNS60415 Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning and three Tier 1 personal advice units of competency in financial planning, margin lending and superannuation from its National Register of vocational education and training (VET). This means these courses are no longer available for new enrolments. Advisers already enrolled in these courses are able to continue with their studies. “

Although thousands of advisers have relied on these courses to meet RG 146 compliance for so many years, they now no longer have the same relevance because of the introduction of the FASEA standards,” said Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight.

“There is demand from licensees and the industry to introduce qualifications that represent a targeted focus towards paraplanners and superannuation specialists, so we are working on three new qualifications to reflect the changing nature of the industry and meet market demand.”

ASQA will introduce three new paraplanning and superannuation vocational education qualifications, so Kaplan Professional will apply for approval to add these to its scope of registration with ASQA:

• FNS60920 Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning
• FNS40920 Certificate IV in Superannuation
• FNS50720 Diploma of Superannuation

The FNS60920 Advanced Diploma of Paraplanning will provide formal recognition of the highly-skilled and valuable role of the paraplanner, offering a benchmark qualification to raise the level of knowledge and skills to Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) level 6 across the board.

The FNS40920 Certificate IV in Superannuation is designed for individuals who want to work in customer service and administration roles within superannuation. The FNS50720 Diploma of Superannuation is suitable for those who are seeking specialist technical operational and research analyst roles in the superannuation and self managed superannuation funds space.

“The three qualifications are designed to provide significant benefits to the industry, where individuals develop not only in-depth knowledge and technical skills, but also the ability to support practices in developing and maintaining compliant back-office procedures,” Mr Knight said.

“This will allow financial advisers and superannuation specialists to devote more of their time and expertise to delivering best-practice advice and service to their clients.

“The industry is focused on supplementing its talent pool over the coming years, so these qualifications will provide an accessible and suitable pathway for those who want to enter the financial services sector. They will also provide an ideal opportunity for career changers in this challenging economic environment.”

More specific information about the paraplanning and superannuation vocational education qualifications will become available if Kaplan Professional receives approval to add them to its scope of registration with ASQA. This includes enrolment dates, entry requirements, fees, learning outcomes and units of competency.

Kaplan Professional will continue to offer specialist short courses in Derivatives, Financial Planning, Foreign Exchange, General Insurance, Generic Knowledge, Life Insurance, Managed Investments, Margin Lending, Securities, Securities and Managed Investments, and Superannuation.

The post ‘End of an era’ for Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Financial Planning appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Brian Knight

Leading education provider Kaplan Professional has announced they have received approval from the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) for the Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning and bridging courses as stand-alone subjects.

Kaplan Professional’s Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning commenced in January 2014 and individuals currently enrolled in this qualification can continue their studies in the updated course structure. To meet FASEA requirements, individuals will need to complete Kaplan Professional’s FPC002B Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice, which is a FASEA-approved course in Ethics for Professional Advisers.

Enrolments into the updated Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning will open on 24 June 2019 for Study Period 5, which commences on 2 September 2019. A stand-alone offering of FPC002B Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice is available for immediate enrolments in Study Period 4, which commences on 8 July 2019.

Kaplan Professional’s updated Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning encompasses the three bridging courses built in conjunction with Dr. Deen Sanders, Deloitte leader of ethics and professionalism:

• FPC002B Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice (aligns to FASEA bridging course: Ethics for Professional Advisers)
• FPC001B Economic and Legal Context for Financial Planning (aligns to FASEA bridging course: Financial Advice Regulatory & Legal Obligations)
• FPC007B Client Engagement Skills (aligns to FASEA bridging course: Client and Consumer Behaviour, Engagement and Decision Making)

The education provider is confident this will set the benchmark in adviser education, offering a valuable and engaging experience that will help advisers gain practical and relevant outcomes to benefit their professional practice.

Kaplan Professional chief executive officer Brian Knight welcomed FASEA’s approval, stating it was a positive step forward for the industry as a whole.

“From our perspective, we have been proactively working with licensees for a significant amount of time, mapping out each of their advisers’ personalised education pathways based on previous education completed and professional designations achieved.

“This has enabled thousands of advisers to already commence their postgraduate studies with Kaplan Professional, building their momentum and confidence. For those advisers waiting for FASEA approval, this will provide them with the clarity and certainty they need to move forward,” he said.

Mr Knight added Kaplan Professional has adopted a position to commit significant resources towards elevating its student support and keeping its course fees to a minimum.

“We are cognisant advisers have extensive professional and personal commitments, so our qualifications are delivered 100 per cent online with six annual intakes and full subject availability.

“In addition, we have been running face-to-face workshops at no additional cost to cater all learning styles. We have also recently launched a suite of interactive modules designed to help advisers grow their confidence to study at the postgraduate level and develop effective study skills. These are particularly useful for advisers returning to study after a long time or those who haven’t studied online before,” he said.

Mr Knight was adamant Kaplan Professional was well positioned to support all advisers.

“Over the coming days, we will be proactively contacting all advisers who have already commenced their study with Kaplan Professional to ensure they are on the pathway best suited to their individual circumstances and understand what they need to do to meet FASEA’s requirements.

“We will do everything we can to support licensees and advisers, providing a high quality educational experience that will help advisers deepen their technical knowledge and enhance their skillset … for the betterment of not only themselves, but the Australian public they serve.

“Our dedicated team of knowledgeable course advisers and corporate relationship managers are committed to providing all advisers with the confidence, motivation and support they need throughout every step of their education journey,” he said. ENDS

The post Kaplan Professional receives FASEA approval for Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Brian Knight

Leading financial services education provider Kaplan Professional has engaged Dr Deen Sanders OAM, Deloitte leader ethics and professionalism, to help build and deliver the three bridging courses required by the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA).

The bridging courses are aligned to FASEA’s curriculum and will combine Kaplan Professional’s deep industry understanding and education calibre with Deloitte’s global expertise, insight and capability.

Due to such high demand from licensees and their financial advisers, Kaplan Professional is intending to offer enrolments for Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice in July if FASEA approval is granted. Pending FASEA approval, the education provider is preparing for September enrolments into the two other bridging courses: Financial Advice Regulatory and Legal Obligations and Behavioural Finance: Client and Consumer Behaviour, Engagement and Decision Making.

Kaplan Professional chief executive officer Brian Knight said he was delighted to work with Deloitte and especially Dr Sanders, Partner Deloitte, as he wanted to work with the very best people available to set the benchmark for adviser education.

“Together, we have assembled a team of market-leading academic and practitioner experts to build out these bridging courses. This includes Sydney University behavioural scientists, and legal and professional ethics leaders from both Sydney University and the University of New South Wales.”

“The involvement of Deloitte will ensure these bridging courses are best-in-breed – unprecedented, innovative and cutting-edge, and will significantly contribute to the fabric of adviser education. We wanted to go ‘above and beyond’ the norm and transform what is available in the market.

“FASEA has placed great importance on these three knowledge areas. Which is a strong indication it sees improvement in these skills as integral to the future of the profession and to advisers’ performance.

“All advisers will have to complete a least one bridging course to meet the requirements, so we want to make this a valuable and engaging experience. It is imperative advisers gain practical and relevant outcomes that will benefit their career in the years to come … for the betterment of not only themselves, but the Australian public they serve,” Mr Knight said.

He added the fundamental contribution of Dr Sanders in the development of the bridging courses would be an enormous asset for the credibility of the content.

“Dr Sanders is renowned as a global leader in the field of ethics, trust and regulation and its impact on professional behaviour and conduct. He has a deep and profound understanding of Australia’s financial services sector.

“In addition, he brings an unrivalled insight from his time at FASEA, understanding the vision for the professionalisation program in the Corporations Act to encourage sustained change in behaviour, to align with professionalism, and to champion a positive and long-term future for trusted financial advice,” he said.

Expressions of interest to enrol in Ethics and Professionalism in Financial Advice are open to advisers and scheduled to start as soon as 8 July 2019 when Study Period 4 commences.

Kaplan Professional is also hoping to offer Financial Advice Regulatory and Legal Obligations and Behavioural Finance: Client and Consumer Behaviour, Engagement and Decision Making in Study Period 5, which commences on 2 September 2019. If approved by FASEA, all bridging course subjects will form part of Kaplan Professional’s Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning.

The post Kaplan Professional and Deloitte aim to set the benchmark with FASEA bridging courses appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Brian Knight

Industry education provider Kaplan Professional and RegTech pioneer Red Marker are encouraging licensees and organisations to ensure they are well-equipped to face increased scrutiny from the regulator.

The positive reinforcement follows a recent spate of incidents involving ASIC cracking down on noncompliance and regulatory breaches. Clear examples of this being ASIC’s focus on unlicensed accountants and the clampdown on the use of certain terms under s923A of the Corporations Act. In addition, ASIC have stated they will be utilising more sophisticated tools to analyse data and address identified risks.

With RegTech front of mind for both the regulator and industry, Kaplan Professional and Red Marker are confident Artemis – their real-time compliance solution – will empower organisations to be more proactive and pre-emptive in identifying and remediating their own risk, effectively minimising instances of poor and misleading advice reaching consumers or being detected by the regulator.

Red Marker CEO Matt Symons said he was delighted with the buzz surrounding RegTech, and its ability to make risk and compliance more exciting and positive.

“Good governance starts with capability and the right set of tools – this is a terrific catalyst for change and encourages the industry to be serious about building a true culture of compliance.

“RegTech creates efficiencies and productivity improvements to manage regulatory obligations in a cost effective and compliant manner,” he said.

After more than three years of development as a website and social media surveillance and engagement tool, Artemis has expanded to encompass real-time risk detection in statements of advice, providing the ability to upload documents directly into the engine and conduct an immediate compliance check.

Kaplan Professional and Red Marker are also focussed on working with their clients to connect real-time risk identification with professional education to shape the industry’s training outcomes now and into the future.

Kaplan Professional chief executive Brian Knight said this would enable licensees to identify when and how to train advisers.

“We are building education pieces into the engine – bite-sized chunks of micro-learning – so advisers are able to detect when they have made a mistake, self-correct and learn as they go.

“It is a learner-driven process enabling continuing education to be delivered when and where it is needed, as an integrated part of an adviser’s role.

“We are committed to continuing to work with our clients and the industry to provide meaningful compliance solutions, and further investigate new and innovative ways of utilising artificial intelligence to provide better learning outcomes,” he said.

Symons encouraged the industry to take advantage of RegTech’s and Artemis’ endless potential.

“There is genuine capability out there right now – this is an enormous opportunity for the industry to innovate in the way they do things.

“Those who do not get on board with this technology now will be stuck doing things the old way, while others move further ahead.”

With a host of major licensees already using Artemis, Kaplan Professional and Red Marker welcome the opportunity for more of the financial services industry to capitalise on this innovative RegTech solution.

“It is extremely encouraging to see the number of AFSL’s embracing Artemis and RegTech – what better way to demonstrate to the regulator you are serious about creating a culture of compliance and protecting the best interests of the consumer,” Knight said.

“Their investment in RegTech is enabling them to do all they can to maintain visibility and control across their licence – it is a no-brainer to be on the front foot by being able to identify and mitigate risk before the regulator does and starts to ask questions.”

The post Financial services industry encouraged to embrace RegTech appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Brian Knight

A recent Midwinter and Jenesis industry survey revealed just under half of the respondents had chosen not to engage in social media because of the associated risk to their business reputation.

Kaplan Professional and Red Marker have been developing the Artemis solution to help financial advisers create and share compliant digital content.

Artemis detects ‘risky’ content as it is being created, helping advisers and licensees to identify and remediate compliance risks associated with the promotion of financial products or services.

The innovative solution is able to identify risk across a range of media types including web pages, Word documents, PDF’s, and client communications. Artemis is also able to review proposed social media posts to identify content that may breach the corporations law or regulatory guidelines.

Kaplan Professional CEO Brian Knight said it was important as ever to ensure advisers were well-equipped to embrace digital communication channels with confidence.

“Digital is the way forward – advisers who are able to harness the full potential of these integral communication channels have increased capacity to market services, promote their brand, connect to current clients, and foster new business.

“Unfortunately, recent research has suggested compliance fears and reputational risk are limiting its use amongst advisers … a large amount also believe there is a lack of adequate education, highlighting a serious knowledge gap when it comes to engaging clients online.

“Artemis not only minimises the risk of publishing misleading content, it actively educates advisers through real-time feedback, just-in-time learning interventions, and professional development opportunities where necessary – I am confident it will help alleviate the perceived compliance fears and difficulty associated with digital and social media,” he said.

Artemis includes both content discovery and content recommendation functionality, helping advisers to identify relevant trending topics and news. It connects through an API to the major social media platforms, allowing advisers to easily share compliant content with both existing and prospective customers.

The platform also has the ability to create custom compliance rules that align with licensee policy and the establishment of streamlined internal approval policies.

Red Marker Director Matt Symons said he was excited by Artemis’ potential and the contribution it would make to Australia’s emerging RegTech space.

“Australia has an opportunity to become a world leader in this space – Red Marker is one of an emerging group of Australian RegTech pioneers who are showing it is possible to build globally relevant RegTech solutions right here in Australia.

“Three years of research and development has gone into Artemis and it continues to evolve with the feedback and support of our clients – we have been amazed by the willingness of the industry to work with us to develop Artemis to this point.

“All sorts of interesting opportunities start to open up once you figure out how to dynamically identify risky content as it is being produced,” he said.

Although the industry survey revealed only 13 per cent of advisers were satisfied with the level of digital and social media education their licensee was providing, Artemis is currently being used by more than 20 Australian Financial Services Licensees.

Artemis is receiving tremendous feedback about its unique application and future direction, and Kaplan Professional encourages licensees to invest in further digital and social media education to support advisers confidently and compliantly increase their online presence.

An Artemis product demonstration is available on request.

The post Empowering advisers to embrace social media appeared first on AdviserVoice.