ASIC points to adviser banning actions
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed its intention of using additional Government funding to accelerate action in the financial advice space, including banning actions.
Responding to questions during a hearing of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services earlier this month, ASIC chairman James Shipton defended the use of enforceable undertakings but signalled this did not preclude the use of bannings in the financial advice space.
“… it's the combination of different tools and responses that will achieve a behavioural change, which is essentially what we're looking for in the financial advice space,” he said.
“There are a number of different initiatives taking place right now, including the important enforcement work which Ms Macaulay and others are undertaking.
“We have additional funding, as has been mentioned earlier. Part of that additional funding will include work to accelerate the enforcement actions, including banning actions, in the financial advice space,” Shipton said. “Also, which is important, we will be embarking upon extra supervisory work in the financial advice space.”
“We are looking at the continued existence of conflicts of interest in the financial advice space. That particular response needs to be seen in the broader context, which is the utilisation of different tools at different times to achieve behavioural change,” he said.
Recommended for you
The director of Ascent Investment and Coaching, Michael Dunjey, has been charged with 33 criminal offences.
Adviser Ratings’ latest financial landscape report finds there is a demographic of advice practices achieving an average revenue of $5 million, with only 3 per cent of practices overall seeing a revenue decline.
The FAAA is calling for regulators to take a partnership approach with financial advisers regarding incoming legislation, rather than treating the industry as “guinea pigs”.
There have been strong numbers of returning advisers this year so far, according to Wealth Data, already surpassing the same period for 2024.
