Authorised Financial Advisers

Authorised and ready

The Skills Organisation is responsible for the assessment system for the National Certificate in Financial Services (Financial Advice) (Level 5), which is the minimum competency standard as set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers.

Under the Financial Advisers Act 2008, financial advisers who provide particular types of advice must be authorised. The Code states that an Authorised Financial Adviser (AFA) must either have attained the ‘Unit Standard Sets within the the National Certificate in Financial Services (Financial Advice) (Level 5) relevant to the financial adviser services provided by the AFA’, or they must hold one of a number of specifically recognised competency alternatives.

If an adviser holds one of the listed recognised competency alternatives, only certain unit standards contained within the revised National Certificate will be required.

To find out which unit standard sets you may be required to complete and what the competency alternatives are read the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers at the FMA website.

For more information about the assessment system please use the links below.