Don’t mention the war, or the elephant in the room

10 September 2018
| By Outsider |
image
image
expand image

Outsider, for reasons which he would rather not discuss, is familiar with the “dark arts” of spin doctoring and therefore believes that industry fund, HostPlus, must have received some “medical” advice when compiling its submission responding to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

In particular, Outsider believes those advising HostPlus must have drawn upon what was always known as the “Fawlty Towers” or “Don’t Mention the War Technique” – essentially a strategy which involves not mentioning the rather large and noisy elephant in the room.

In the case of HostPlus, that elephant was the large sums of members’ money the Royal Commission heard had been spent on corporate hospitality, including boxes at the Australian Open tennis.

The HostPlus submission dwelt at some length on member communications but at no point did it mention corporate hospitality.

As Basil Fawlty said: “Don’t mention the war”.

Outsider is sure, however, that the Commissioner Kenneth Hayne, clearly espied the elephant in the room.

 

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

GG

So shareholders lose a dividend plus have seen the erosion of value. Qantas decides to clawback remuneration from Alan ...

2 months 1 week ago
Denise Baker

This is why I left my last position. There was no interest in giving the client quality time, it was all about bumping ...

2 months 1 week ago
gonski

So the Hayne Royal Commission has left us with this. What a sad day for the financial planning industry. Clearly most ...

2 months 1 week ago

A Sydney-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services in the interest of consumer protection after failing to act on conduct concerns. ...

3 weeks 1 day ago

ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a $250 million Sydney fund manager, one of two AFSL cancellations announced by the corporate regulator....

2 weeks 6 days ago

Having divested its advice business in August, AMP is undergoing restructuring in at least four other departments amid a cost simplification program....

2 weeks 3 days ago