Skandia sorry about admin error

Ross Laidlaw

Skandia has been forced to apologise for an administrative error that left an Adelaide financial adviser fearing he had lost his clients’ trust and, ultimately, their business.

Bernard Flynn, an authorised representative of AAA Wealth Management, had used the platform provider’s report centre, a service offered by Skandia to assist advisers in monitoring client accounts, to produce a number of half-year reports.

However, the figures displayed on the web-based service were incorrect, representing a combined difference of more than $120,000 compared to the yearly statements Skandia sent to clients a few weeks later.

Flynn believes this error could result in him losing clients and future income.

“Relationships which have taken years to build and hard won trust are now under threat, with the very real possibility of losing some clients and associated income,” he said.

“I’m not saying it will definitely happen because, fortunately, I’ve got a very good relationship with most of my clients if not all of them, but there is always the one or two that I might lose, and one such client has quite a healthy portfolio.”

Skandia has since taken the necessary steps to rectify the error, however, the incident highlights the danger of relying on platforms for all administrative reports.

Skandia chief executive Ross Laidlaw said the figures Flynn obtained from the report centre incorrectly displayed the price prior to distribution, but claims none of the adviser’s clients had lost actual money or were disadvantaged by this.

“We have sent a letter of apology to Bernard to say they were incorrect … and I’ve even said to Bernard that we were prepared to speak to all of his clients, to even put someone into his office to rectify the situation,” he said.

“We take our servicing and administration very seriously, and I’m not suggesting that we don’t make mistakes — we have apologised and we were in error here, but all platforms from time to time make errors, and we would not be on our own there.”