Australian regulator ASIC has announced that it is continuing to monitor the financial advice industry’s use of restricted terms ‘independent’ and ‘independently owned’, taking steps to intervene when it identifies concerns. Following surveillance of industry websites, ASIC has required four financial advice companies to cease and amend false claims of independence that could mislead consumers.
The claims were made on websites, and in some instances, in the marketing material of:
- Financial Spectrum Pty Ltd (authorised representative of Financial Wisdom Pty Ltd);
- Mr James Gerrard (authorised representative of Australian Financial Advisory Group Pty Ltd);
- PWK Private Wealth Advisers Pty Ltd (authorised representative of Paragem Pty Ltd); and
- Debbie Hudson Financial Services Pty Ltd (trading as Wealth Fusion) (authorised representative of Paragem Pty Ltd).
ASIC will continue to publicly name advisers who do not comply with their obligations under s923A and, where appropriate, take action to enforce the obligations in s923A and to ensure consumers are not misled about the nature of the service they are receiving.
Enforcing transparency and accuracy in disclosure are important components in ASIC’s ongoing work to improve standards in the financial advice industry.
The complete announcement can be seen here.