Advice businesses who went down owing AFCA

Most of the financial advice companies named by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) as having failed to pay complaint-related charges had already been named and dealt with by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The Authority this week named 29 member firms which it said owed a combined total of $1.745 million in outstanding charges, but the likelihood of the firms paying or worrying about breaching their AFCA membership requirements seems remote in circumstances where most are already out of business.

Most notable among those named was Dover Financial Advisers which closed its doors in controversial and still-disputed circumstances last year while others such as Jade Capital Partners had its license cancelled by ASIC in January and MacKellar Financial Services had its licence cancelled in April and Australasia Wealth Service and Management had its licence cancelled in June, this year.

Halifax Investment Services, which was also named in the AFCA list, went into administration late last year with its AFSL having been suspended until January, 2020 while the company owning one of the largest amounts, Over The Counter Derivative issuer, Berndale Capital Securities had its license cancelled in November 2018. ACFA showed it as owing $364,230.

However, still in operation and shown as owing $157,755 was Equitable Financial Solutions, as was North Sydney-based financial planning outfit, QWL was shown as owing $16,515.