How to Verify a Financial Adviser's ASIC Registration

Two minutes that could save you a great deal

Verifying that a financial adviser is properly registered with ASIC is one of the simplest and most important things you can do before handing over your financial situation to someone. It takes about two minutes, it is free, and it tells you things that no amount of googling a firm's website will reveal - including whether the adviser has any disciplinary history on record with the regulator.

The fact that most people do not do it is partly why financial fraud and poor advice continue to cause significant harm to Australian consumers every year.

Why registration matters

In Australia, anyone providing personal financial advice must hold or be authorised under an Australian Financial Services licence. This is a legal requirement under the Corporations Act 2001, not an optional credential. An adviser who provides personal financial advice without this authorisation is operating illegally, regardless of how professional they appear or how long they have been in business. If you are not sure what an AFS licence covers, our guide What is an AFS Licence? explains it clearly.

ASIC maintains the Financial Advisers Register as a public record of every individual currently and previously authorised to provide personal financial advice in Australia. It is updated regularly and is the definitive source of truth about an adviser's registration status, authorisations and disciplinary history.

How to check using this directory

This directory is updated weekly from the ASIC Financial Advisers Register. You can search for an adviser by name or suburb and their profile will show their current registration status, authorisations, qualifications, years of experience and any disciplinary history recorded by ASIC. Our guide on how to read an adviser profile explains what each section means and what to look for.

This is a convenient starting point, but because our data is updated weekly rather than in real time, we always recommend verifying directly with ASIC as well - particularly if you are about to make a significant financial decision based on advice from that person.

How to check directly with ASIC

The ASIC Financial Advisers Register is publicly searchable at moneysmart.gov.au/financial-advice/financial-advisers-register. You can search by the adviser's name, their registration number, or the name of their employer or licensee.

When you find an adviser's record, check the following:

Registration status: Should show as "Current" for an active adviser. If it shows as "Cancelled", "Suspended" or "Lapsed" the adviser is not currently authorised to give you personal financial advice.

Authorisations: The register lists which financial products the adviser is authorised to advise on. If you need advice about a specific product - superannuation, managed investments, life insurance, tax financial advice - confirm the adviser is specifically authorised in that area.

Licensee: The AFS licensee the adviser operates under. This is the entity that holds the licence and is ultimately responsible for the advice given under it. If something goes wrong, the licensee is the entity you would complain to first. Our guide on how to make a complaint about a financial adviser explains how that process works.

Disciplinary history: Any banning orders, enforceable undertakings, or other regulatory actions taken against the adviser will be recorded here. A clean record does not guarantee good advice, but a disciplinary history is important information to have before you proceed. For more detail, see our guide on checking an adviser's disciplinary history.

Qualifications: The register records the adviser's educational qualifications and professional memberships. Since 2019, advisers have been required to hold an approved degree qualification - the register will show whether this requirement has been met.

What to do if you cannot find an adviser on the register

If someone claims to be a financial adviser but you cannot find them on the ASIC register, do not proceed. There are a few possible explanations - they may have given you a slightly different name than what is recorded, they may be operating under a different licensee than you expected, or they may not be registered at all.

Try searching by their registration number if they have provided one, or by the name of their firm or licensee. If you still cannot find them, contact ASIC directly on 1300 300 630 before taking any further steps. Providing financial advice without proper authorisation is a serious offence and ASIC takes reports of unlicensed advice seriously.

Verifying a firm as well as an individual

Individual advisers operate under an AFS licence held by a licensee - usually the firm they work for or are authorised by. You can verify the licensee's status separately through ASIC's professional registers at connectonline.asic.gov.au. Search for the firm name under "Australian Financial Services Licensee" to confirm the licence is current and in good standing.

This matters because an adviser can be individually registered but operating under a licensee whose licence has been suspended or cancelled - a situation that affects their ability to legally provide advice even if their individual registration appears current.

Making it a habit

Checking the register before engaging any financial adviser should be as routine as checking a tradesperson's licence or a doctor's registration. It costs nothing, takes very little time, and gives you information you cannot get any other way. If an adviser objects to you verifying their registration or seems evasive about their registration number, that itself is a significant warning sign. Once you have verified an adviser's registration, our guides on how to choose a financial adviser and what to ask before you hire them cover what to do next.