Moore counts the cost of ASIC action
Tasmanian based planner Brendan Moore has revealed his prosecution at the hands of the financial services regulator has had a negative impact on his practice in regard to loss of clients and new business opportunities.
The Australian Securities andInvestments Commission (ASIC) prosecuted Moore for failing to issue Statements of Advice to four of his clients in 2005 as part of its first superannuation switching campaign.
He was tried in August 2005 and placed on a good behaviour surety of $1,000 for 12 months in November of that year.
Speaking about his experience at the recent Financial Services Partners (FSP) dealer group conference, Moore said: “Financially, certainly my business has slowed. I lost my second largest client. They didn’t say that it was a result of my name being in the paper, but I’d suggest it might have been a contributing factor.
“And just recently I lost potentially a really good joint venture opportunity because the 2IC [second in charge] of the other business had heard about my misdemeanours,” he added.
In terms of actual dollars spent on his legal defence, Moore estimated he has shelled out well over $50,000 during the process, but said the proceedings had cost his licensee and the corporate watchdog much more.
“I reckon it has probably cost FSP close to $250,000, and they tell me it has cost ASIC, or all of us taxpayers, over $500,000 for the prosecutions,” he said.
While Moore did not know exactly how much of his time the episode had taken up, he thinks it would equate to months if he were to add it up.
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