A second Australian financial services training institution is about to close its doors, citing an unsustainable funding model.
The not-for-profit Financial Services Education Agency Australia (FSEAA), formerly the National Finance Industry Training Advisory Body, will wind up in six weeks when its contract with ASIC expires.
FSEAA runs ASIC's training register for PS146 applicants and has been responsible for processing, assessing and recommending new applications.
Its closure follows the $36 million sell-off of the education arm of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA) to United States-based education giant Kaplan.
Earlier this year FINSIA's board decided the large amount of capital needed to maintain accreditation and develop and market new courses could be better applied to member services.
FSEAA's current general manager Catherine Chaffey said there was a "complex mix of reasons" why the agency was closing, one of which was the desire of her and former general manager Deen Sanders to work in other areas.
Sanders left the agency last year to take up a senior job with the FPA.
"The people that know something want to move on," Chaffey said.
"Pretty much we'll be gone by the end of September."
She said annual operating expenditure of between $500,000 and $600,000 was coming from different industry and government sources and was becoming too hard to maintain.
"When you spend so much time scrambling for funding it can be quite wearing," Chaffey said.
"To keep going with dribs and drabs was unsustainable. It really is a loss to the industry."
The staff team of four have all found other jobs, Chaffey said.
ASIC is reviewing its training policy for financial advisers to address concerns about education standards, recognition of prior study and training and the quality of courses.
"We'll wait until the conclusion of that consultation process to make any conclusion of the role of FSEAA," an ASIC spokesman said.
The spokesman said ASIC would run the training register in place of FSEAA until a decision is made to outsource the job or run it internally.
FSEAA has played a valuable role in the industry and will be missed, Senior Australians Equity Release Association of Lenders managing director Kieren Dell said.
"It's a shame because we find it's useful to have an organisation that can provide strategic advice to industry bodies like us," Dell said.
