Lack of paper trail for Nguyen advice rejected
A financial dispute resolution specialist has rejected claims by Commonwealth Financial Planning that a number of former clients of Don Nguyen were not compensated because there was no documentation available to prove Nguyen provided advice.
Financial Resolutions Australia (FRA) made the claim in its submission to the Senate Inquiry into the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and stated that the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) was aware of Nguyen’s actions despite the absence of a paper trial.
In supporting its claims FRA supplied to the Senate Review an internal compliance document from a senior Colonial First State (CFS) executive which stated that CFS, owned by the CBA, was aware of switching requests for eight of Nguyen’s clients despite the absence of advice documentation.
FRA also presented background information regarding a former client of Nguyen which it claimed had been rejected by CBA when it was brought to the bank’s attention by FRA.
The group stated it made it submission with the internal compliance document from CFS as it was “concerned that once again an all too convenient assumption has been made to Mr Nguyen’s behaviour by CBA and ASIC has accepted this as fact”.
FRA said these assumptions were inconsistent “with evidence uncovered as to contacts with Mr Nguyen that were not formal, and by testimony of his victims”.
“We raise this matter with the Senate Inquiry into ASIC as further evidence that the statistics provided to ASIC for compensation must be treated with extreme caution as they derive them basically from CBA,” FRA stated.
Recommended for you
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager.
In the run-up to heavy losses expected at the end of the financial year, June has already reported consecutive weeks of adviser losses.
ASIC has banned a former NSW adviser from providing advice for 10 years for investing at least $14.8 million into a cryptocurrency-based scam.
ASIC has sent warning notices to social media finfluencers who it suspects are providing unlicensed financial advice to Australians as part of a global crackdown by international regulators.
