Financial planning firm Poynter Hargraves Financial Consultants has been required to remove its sole responsible manager as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has imposed additional conditions on its license.
The regulator announced today that the move followed a targeted surveillance that found that Poynter Hargraves have poor risk controls around conflict management and was not adequately monitoring and supervising its representatives.
ASIC’s surveillance also found that some clients of the firm were provided with financial advice that failed to meet the best interests duty and related obligation.
The additional license conditions require the NSW-based Poynter Hargraves to engage an independent expert to review and make recommendations on how its audit processes and conflict management can be improved with the expert also pre-vetting a simple of advice and reporting on the improvements.
ASIC noted that licensees were responsible for ensuring their representatives complied with financial services laws and had robust controls in place to manage conflicts of interest and adequate audit processes to monitor and supervise their representatives.
