KEY POINTS:
A new national qualification for financial advisers is under fire from the industry for being too basic.
Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel yesterday announced a new NZQA approved National Certificate in Financial Services.
The qualification is expected to be available to financial advisers from next year and is part of the Government's efforts to improve public confidence in the industry since the wholesale collapse of finance companies recommended by advisers.
But Vance Arkinstall, chief executive of the Investment Savings and Insurance Association, said that while it was good to finally get a basic level of qualification in place, level four was "well below" the standard of education that financial providers would expect from those working in the industry.
According to the Qualifications Authority, level four denotes a level just above senior secondary school education and basic trades training. It is described as equivalent to more advanced trades training and is pre-diploma.
Arkinstall said it was targeted at people in call centres who were answering basic financial questions over the phone and failed to address where the needs were at the moment.
"It has taken a long time to get there and still falls well short of where we need to be."
Arkinstall said the association believed level 5 was the minimum requirement needed across the industry, a level which would be in line with the qualifications held by Australian financial advisers.
Level five is equivalent to a diploma.
But not all were so hard on the new qualification.
Institute of Financial Advisers president Lyn McMorran said it was a good minimum standard which would be useful for those in banking.
However, she said, financial advisers could not become a member of the institute without attaining a level 5 qualification.
Over time she expected level 5 would become the minimum requirement for the industry but said the lower qualification was a good place to start in an industry where there was now no minimum requirement to become a financial adviser.
Michael Frampton, manager stakeholder relations for ETITO - the industry training body which put together the qualification - said that while it had been in talks with the industry since 2002 it had only begun specifically working towards the qualification in the past two years.
He defended the decision to start the qualification at level four, saying it was important to ensure it would be accessible to all in the industry.
"It's designed not to preclude people from entering it so it doesn't become inaccessible. In our experience our level four national certificate programme is entirely appropriate."
The qualification is based on competency and while it has an estimated completion time of 12 months, Frampton said that if people could provide the work to show they were competent that timeframe could be cut.
Dalziel said she believed the qualification was a significant step in the Government's efforts to improve the competence, accountability and disclosure requirements of financial advisers.
The qualification allows for mutual recognition with Australia.
THE CERTIFICATE
* National Certificate in Financial Services
* First NZQA nationally recognised qualification for financial advisers.
* Expected to be available from 2009.
* Mutually recognised with Australia.
