ASIC suspends Marigold AFSL
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has suspended Marigold Falconer International's Australian financial services licence (AFSL) until May 31, 2016 after it found the company does not have a current professional indemnity insurance to claims for breaches of financial services.
ASIC has found that the previous policy held by Marigold Falconer expired at the end of February 2016 and that the company has not lodged audited financial statements for the 2015 financial year as required under the Corporations Act.
Marigold is authorised under its licence to provide financial product advice and deal in a number of classes of financial products that include derivatives, securities and superannuation.
ASIC has also informed that it will consider any action in relation to Marigold Falconer's licence, having regard whether it has obtained adequate professional indemnity insurance and lodged audited financial statements before May 31, 2016.
Additionally, the regulator is also currently taking action in the Federal Court against Ostrava Equities, which ceased as an authorised representative of Marigold Falconer on October 21, 2015.
Recommended for you
As the first quarter of 2024 comes to a close, Money Management looks back on the corporate regulator’s bans and AFSL cancellations in the financial advice sector.
Insignia Financial is holding ‘relatively steady’ onto its rank as Australia’s second-largest financial advice licensee after the Godfrey Pembroke exit but Count is hot on its heels.
Liberal senator Slade Brockman has said the government needs to have a “cold hard look” at the level of regulation in the financial advice space and the costs of running a business.
FAAA chief executive, Sarah Abood, has warned changes in the first tranche of the QAR legislation around advice fees documentation could create more work for advisers rather than less.