On 30 September 2025, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) issued a media release urging financial advisers to review the accuracy of their information on the Financial Advisers Register.
Background
Financial advisers (also known as relevant providers) who are also existing providers generally have until 1 January 2026 to meet the qualifications standard under section 921B(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) to continue providing personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products from that date.
ASIC’s review of the information on the Financial Advisers Register suggests that as at 16 September 2025, 3,459 relevant providers have yet to meet the qualifications standard and of this cohort, 1,371 may be eligible for the experienced provider pathway, but their Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees are yet to notify ASIC of this. Further, 1,143 existing providers, unless exempt, will need to complete the specified courses in commercial law and taxation law to continue to provide tax (financial) advice services.
Next steps
Relevant providers cannot update the Financial Advisers Register themselves and should speak to their AFS licensees to ensure this happens.
ASIC reminds AFS licensees and financial advisers that it is a serious offence to knowingly provide false or misleading information to ASIC or to fail to take reasonable steps to ensure the information provided is true and correct. It is also an offence not to update the Financial Advisers Register within 30 business days of a change to a relevant provider’s details.
ASIC will continue monitoring information on the Financial Advisers Register in the lead up to January 2026 and will consider further regulatory responses if required.