ASIC to pursue ex-Macquarie advices, as group gets all clear

Former Macqaurie Equities Limited (MEL) advisers remain under the microscope, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) reveals.

The regulator announced that it was continuing to monitor advisers who used to work for the group, after KPMG revealed tests of reforms implement under MEL's enforceable undertaking (EU) with ASIC, detected no instances of poor advice, in the year after the EU was lifted.

"KPMG has concluded its work and noted that, on the basis of the work performed, ‘it believes ‘that the policies, procedures and processes that KPMG have assessed in the course of this engagement have been effectively designed based on the nature, scale and complexity of MEL's business and are operating effectively as designed'," ASIC said

"KPMG further stated that based on the testing performed, and at the point in time that their work was performed, information available to them indicated that given the nature, scale and complexity of MEL's business ‘the changes made by MEL under the EU Implementation Plan, including any updates or revisions made since the conclusion of the EU will be sustainable'.

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"Based on KPMG's review of advice files, ASIC has noted an overall improvement in the quality of documentation since the EU's conclusion. KPMG did not identify any inappropriate advice, though noted areas for improvement of documentation."

Since MEL entered into the EU with ASIC in February 2013, three advisers, Brett O'Malley, Shawn Hickman and Ben Rickman, have been banned by the regulator.