ASIC updates Morgans’ licence conditions
An independent compliance consultant will monitor, evaluate, and report on Morgans Financial Limited's implementation of recommendations borne out of an independent review of its compliance measures.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the stockbroking and wealth management firm agreed to it after ASIC imposed new licence conditions on Morgans in November last year after finding several breach incidents over recent years.
The review of Morgans' compliance measures, which concluded March this year, made recommendations for bolstering Morgans' arrangements for monitoring and supervising its representatives, handling confidential market-sensitive information and managing conflicts of interest in relation to corporate transactions.
ASIC said Morgans is carrying out an implementation plan and has engaged a consultant to review this.
In a statement, Morgans said implementation would mostly be complete by the end of the year, with many of the actions already in place, while technical systems improvements needed a longer lead time.
ASIC commissioner, Cathie Armour, said: "All market participants must ensure they maintain adequate monitoring and supervision arrangements. In addition firms must have robust controls pertaining to the proper handling of confidential information and management of conflicts of interest".
ASIC would receive regular progress reports throughout the implementation review, with the consultant's final report due in November 2018. ASIC acknowledged Morgans' cooperative approach to improving its compliance standards.
Recommended for you
ASIC has called on superannuation funds to improve their oversight of advice fee deductions following an investigation of 10 trustees that found $990 million was charged in one year.
Financial services lawyers believe the government may have good intentions, but the proposed legislation leaves superannuation trustees targeting an unachievable “standard of perfection” when it comes to advice deductions.
Advisers could find themselves unable to receive the fair market price of their advice as the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes legislation states superannuation trustees can reject deductions that are not charged on a cost basis.
Two advice professionals have shared five key takeaways as to how advisers can strengthen their communication with clients, especially at review time, in order to build deeper relationships.
