Boutique financial planning group Anne Street Partners Financial Services (ASP) has agreed to address concerns regarding the appropriateness of advice, the management of conflict of interests and inadequate supervision of authorised representatives.
The issues were raised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) following its surveillance of ASP, where the regulator was concerned about the appropriateness of advice provided to clients setting up a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF).
ASIC said ASP had co-operated with the regulator and had taken constructive action after ASIC found that SMSFs were established with low balances and related advice was not tailored to the needs of each client.
ASIC also stated there was inadequate comparison of clients' existing superannuation to the recommended SMSF, and insufficient consideration of strategies that would have met clients' needs or their long-term retirement planning objectives.
The regulator also found that ASP had not properly managed conflicts of interest where the advice resulted in referrals to related ASP entities and had not properly monitored or supervised its authorised representatives to ensure they were trained and competent to provide SMSF advice.
ASP has agreed to engage an independent expert who will report to ASP and ASIC over the next 18 months and will make recommendations regarding the areas of concern raised by ASIC.
