The Association of Independently Owned Financial Planners (AIOFP) has established a committee to support its members and their clients who are involved with the collapsed Great Southern investment group.
A decision to set up the so-called ‘GS Recovery Committee’, which is currently being compiled on a national basis, followed a vote of the AIOFP membership earlier this week.
“Although we had a number of our members vote in favour of doing nothing, the majority voted positively to support members affected by the circumstances,” said AIOFP chief executive Peter Johnston.
“There’s going to be some horror stories to come out of this and we have thus decided to establish a small working committee of members to assist as the process unfolds.”
Johnston said one of the first tasks of the committee would be to meet with the administrators, Ferrier Hodgson, to establish an ongoing working relationship.
It would also meet with some former senior Great Southern executives to look at some feasible options to protect investor interests and meet with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to keep it up-to-date on the committee’s activities.
He added that the committee would also aim to make it quite clear (publicly) that this event has affected all professions, including accountancy, legal and financial services.
“Some of the national planning and accountancy groups were receiving up to 18 per cent commissions, and Great Southern were major sponsors of some major accountancy association conferences.”
