Dealer groups should be held accountable, says Singh

The managing director of Fiducian, Indy Singh, has accused dealer groups which allow their advisers a free hand of absolving themselves of their corporate responsibility.

Speaking to Money Management, Singh said in the past there had been a trend for advisers to gravitate towards dealer groups that allowed them to “do what they like”, but that approach absolved the dealer groups of their obligations under the Corporations Act to maintain control of the adviser.

“There have been instances where some advisers have been banned. Did the dealer groups allow them to do it? What happened to the dealer group [in that situation]?” he asked.

“That’s the paradox, the dealer group is responsible [for the adviser’s actions] but the adviser gets in trouble because he might be following the dealer’s guidelines,” Singh said.

If the advisers thought they could do whatever they like, and subsequently “got into trouble”, then someone was not carrying out their corporate responsibilities in that situation, he added.

Singh, who is hoping to attract advisers to his group, said Fiducian was looking to attract advisers who would understand that “high intensity, high touch” dealer groups are the right model for the future of the planning industry and wanted a high level of support from dealer groups.