ETITO manager of corporate relations and strategy Michael Frampton says otherwise ETITO cannot guarantee access to examinations and assessment in time for the authorisation deadline.

Advisers can start preparing themselves for examinations and assessments once they have booked them in for the period between 29 October 2010 and March 2011.

This gives advisers 38 days to take the required action, otherwise come July next year financial advisory businesses may not be able to operate under the new regime.

ETITO is required to examine Standard Set B and assess Standard Set C as these are capstone standard sets within the National Certificate in Financial Services [Financial Advice] [Level 5].

The Securities Commission has also made it clear that all financial advisers must have applied for authorisation by 31 March 2011 in order for their application for authorisation to be processed before 01 July 2011.

Frampton says it is difficult to quantify just how many financial advisers will be seeking authorisation but the general consensus is that there are potentially between 5,000 and 7,500 individuals.

At midday yesterday, just 1,843 advisers had registered with ETITO, and of these, 1,452 advisers had activated their registrations.

Only 178 advisers have made an assessment reservation for a Standard Set B examination and even fewer - just 40 - have registered for assessment against the requirements of Standard Set C.

To date, ETITO has been advised that there are an estimated 4,600 advisers enrolled with registered and accredited training providers for courses of training and education to the National Certificate programme.

Frampton says he is concerned that a very real risk exists for financial advisers who have yet to fully engage in preparation for the competence assessment process.

He says ETITO has been focused on building and making capacity available for the demand.

"However, it is clear to us that as each week passes and the system is underutilised, capacity is being lost that cannot be replaced."

He says if the system is fully utilised from October 2010, there is sufficient capacity for the demand ETITO estimates.

Effective from 01 October, there will be capacity for 1,600 Standard Set B examinations each month and capacity for 430 examinations for Standard Sets A, D and E has been available, but underutilised, for some months.

In addition, a team of trained assessors has been available since August, ready to conduct assessment of Standard Set C. However, they have not been utilised.

"If these assessors are not fully utilised from October 2010, the expected volumes of assessment will cascade into April, May and June and this will pose real risks for advisers who wish to be authorised in time," says Frampton.

"ETITO urges advisers to act now. In addition to the imperatives that I have outlined, immediate action is indicated because advisers need to factor in the possibility that they may need to re-sit examinations or assessment."

Frampton also acknowledges the uncertainty that has prevailed around the requirements of regulation and the impact that this may have had on advisers.

He says some have taken the view that they will wait until full clarity prevails before proceeding and yesterday's approval of the Code by the Minister provides just that clarity for a large number of advisers, giving no further reason or excuse for delay.