Westpac offers thin response to ASIC charges
Westpac has offered a sparse response to the civil charges brought against it by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), saying that it had previously identified and acted upon misconduct by the adviser who the regulator’s allegations related to.
The regulator’s charges were focused on the allegedly poor financial advice given by adviser Sudhir Sinha when he worked at the bank.
Westpac’s response said that it had identified compliance concerns regarding Sinha in May, 2014 and subsequently commenced an investigation against him. Sinha was then suspended in September and dismissed in November of that year.
Westpac also reported Sinha to ASIC in 2015.
The bank said that it proactively initiated and completed a remediation process to identify and compensate affected customers.
It said it had made improvements to the risk management and compliance controls which originally detected Sinha’s conduct.
As the matter was now before the courts, Westpac said it would not be commenting on allegations made in the proceedings. It said that it would continue cooperating with ASIC and seek to resolve the proceedings quickly.
AUTHOR
Hannah Wootton
Recommended for you
Advisers at DOD Bookkeeping, which received an $11 million penalty last week, received as much as 40 per cent of their remuneration via a bonus when clients purchased a property via a SMSF, according to court documents.
Private wealth manager Escala Partners has launched an end-to-end investment platform to strengthen its alternatives capability as clients seek sophisticated vehicles.
Perpetual Wealth Management has hired two advisers from Ord Minnett as part of five hires, just weeks after the rival firm announced it had picked up six from Perpetual Private.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Perth financial services firm following payments to its clients by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort after a failed managed investment scheme.
