Responsible Managers Program

AFMA’s Responsible Managers Program is the first qualification of its kind to equip individuals who have been nominated as responsible managers (RMs) on their organisation’s Australian financial services (AFS) licence with the knowledge and skills they need to:

critically assess whether their organisation is fulfilling its legal and compliance obligations as an AFS licensee
identify areas where their organisation could benefit from doing things differently
demonstrate compliance with RG 105 Licensing: Organisational Competence.

How do you undertake the program?

The Program comprises two modules, which are completed via a combination of workshop attendance, self-study and assessment.

First, the Role and Obligations module

The Role and Obligations module is compulsory. You can find more information about it here:

Role and Obligations

The assessment for this module comprises a set of ‘in practice’ exercises based on an analysis of your workplace, and a skills assessment based on a workplace research project.

Then, a job-specific stream

From there, you can choose a stream through the rest of the Program to suit your job and your organisation’s licensing requirements: the Risk Management stream, the Advising stream or the Dealing stream. Your assessment will be customised to reflect the specific focus of your chosen stream.

Risk management stream

This pathway focuses on the risk management knowledge and structures required under the AFS licensing regime. It is appropriate for those requiring a working knowledge of risk management to manage their responsibilities as an RM. To complete this pathway, you will need to enrol in:

Risk Management

Your assessment will consist of a set of ‘in practice’ exercises, and a skills assessment based on a workplace research project.

Advising stream

This stream is for individuals who work in client advisory roles and require specific compliance with ASIC RG 146 Licensing: Training of financial product advisers (in addition to RG 105). To complete this stream, you will need to enrol in one specialist product module from AFMA’s Financial Markets Program. You can choose from:

Your assessment will consist of one knowledge assignment and one skills assessment.

Dealing stream

This stream is for individuals who work in non-client-facing dealing room roles. To complete this stream, you will need to enrol in one specialist product module from AFMA’s Financial Markets Program. You can choose from:

Your assessment will consist of one knowledge assessment and one skills assessment.

Who is the program for?

The Program has been designed so that new and existing RMs can maintain an agreed level of competence and AFS licensees comply with their obligations under the Corporations Act 2001. It is of real benefit to individuals who:

need to demonstrate they have the appropriate level of knowledge and skills relevant to their role
are seeking product-specific training in order to comply with RG 105 and/or RG 146
want professional development training appropriate to their role as an RM.

If you have relevant experience or previous training, there are a number of alternatives to completing the full Program. See the Alternative Completion Information Kit for further details, and then contact the AFMA Education team if you would like to pursue this option.

What will you learn?

The Program will provide you with the knowledge, skills and ethical frameworks to:

Identify the regulatory and risk frameworks relevant to AFS licensees operating in Australia’s financial markets and determine their impact upon activities within your area of responsibility
Evaluate your organisation’s compliance with its AFSL requirements within your area of responsibility
Identify your own personal obligations as an RM and evaluate how effectively you are meeting them
Critically reflect to identify possible improvements in your organisation’s AFSL compliance structures and your personal obligations as an RM
Manage the human, technological and financial resources within your area of responsibility to ensure AFSL compliance and meet business objectives
Develop an appreciation of holistic risk and compliance management within your organisation’s governance framework.

Duration

AFMA provides a maximum of 24 months to complete the full FNS60715 Advanced Diploma of Financial Licensing Management (from the date of initial registration) or 9 months if you intend on completing one module (from date of initial registration).

It is important to note that AFMA has structured each module so that it should be completed in a time frame of 4-6 months.

What will you achieve?

If you successfully complete the Program and related assessment you will:

be awarded an FNS60715 Advanced Diploma of Financial Licensing Management, a nationally recognised workplace qualification within the Financial Services Training Package (FNS)
achieve compliance with the knowledge requirements for RMs under RG 105:

Option 4 (if you can demonstrate 3 years relevant experience over the past 5 years)

Option 2 (if you can demonstrate 5 years relevant experience over the past 8 years), or

Option 3—if you have a university degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. economics, commerce, business, accounting or equivalent) and you can demonstrate 3 years relevant experience over the past 5 years

meet the minimum training standards for financial advisers set out in RG 146 (if you complete the product specialist ‘advising’ pathway)
Partial completion of the requirements for AFMA accredited individual status upon successful completion of the Program (product specialist pathway only) - if your emploer is an AFMA member. You should obtain approval by your member organisation before submitting your application form