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Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Australia RG 146 route for general advice and non-relevant-provider roles

A practical map for roles where RG 146 can still matter, with a clear boundary against relevant-provider professional standards for retail personal advice on relevant financial products.

Exam focus

RG 146 training standards for financial product advice roles that are outside the relevant-provider professional standards route.

Who this helps

  • - General advice staff
  • - Non-relevant-product personal advice staff
  • - Time-sharing advice roles
  • - AFSL compliance teams separating adviser-training routes

Route map

  1. 1. Decide whether the role is general advice, personal advice on basic banking/general insurance/consumer credit insurance, time-sharing advice, wholesale-only advice, or retail personal advice on relevant financial products.
  2. 2. Use ASIC's professional standards page first for relevant providers and persons training to become relevant providers.
  3. 3. Use RG 146 for the remaining training-standard analysis where ASIC says RG 146 continues to apply.
  4. 4. Record the product tier, advice type, client type, representative status, supervision, and training evidence in one person file.

Licensing context

  • - ASIC's RG 146 page states that RG 146 training standards no longer apply to relevant providers because the professional standards reforms apply to them.
  • - RG 146 continues to matter for general advice and certain personal advice on products that are not relevant financial products.
  • - RG 146 evidence is not the same thing as AFSL authorisation, representative appointment, or responsible manager organisational competence.

Study focus

  • - Study the vocabulary of advice type, client type, product type, representative status, and training standard before choosing training.
  • - Prepare a short boundary memo explaining why the role is RG 146, professional standards, or neither.
  • - Tie training evidence to supervision, scripts, disclosure, product limits, escalation, and complaint handling.

What to verify before relying on the route

  • - Whether the role provides personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products, which would point to professional standards rather than RG 146.
  • - Whether the person is an authorised representative, employee/director representative, or other representative under the AFSL.
  • - Whether product scope, scripts, call-centre workflow, marketing, and client classification have changed since training was selected.

Application tie-in

  • - AFSL applications should explain how the firm determines which staff are relevant providers, RG 146-covered advisers, general-advice staff, or support staff.
  • - Compliance packs should retain training evidence, role descriptions, advice scripts, supervision logs, register checks, and escalation procedures.
  • - Tool outputs should warn users not to use RG 146 as a shortcut for relevant-provider standards.

Common mistakes

  • - Using RG 146 as the route for relevant providers.
  • - Choosing training before confirming advice type, client type, and product type.
  • - Treating RG 146 evidence as enough for AFSL responsible manager competence.
  • - Ignoring changes from general advice to personal advice in the actual client journey.

Paper and module study maps

Disclaimer

Information on LicenseCompare is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, tax, investment, or professional advice. Licensing requirements depend on facts and change over time. Always consult official regulator materials and qualified professional advisers.