Financial Planning Association (FPA) executives spent yesterday meeting with FPA members, former Storm Financial clients and members of the media in Townsville, the city that is home to the collapsed financial services group.
FPA chief executive Jo-Anne Bloch and deputy chief Deen Sanders travelled to northern Queensland to thank FPA members who have provided and continue to provide advice to former clients of Storm as part of the FPA’s distressed client referral service.
Bloch also met with former clients of Storm Financial, who heard more about the FPA’s position on the issue and what actions it could and could not undertake on their behalf. Bloch pointed Storm clients in the direction of the regulator and the industry’s external dispute resolution schemes for more assistance.
Bloch also urged consumers to file formal complaints with the FPA against any planner or planning group that created concern for consumers.
Bloch said the FPA is trying to do more to prevent situations such as this occurring, and that formal complaints assist the industry body to begin investigations of FPA member firms more promptly.
In a media briefing last Friday Bloch said the FPA’s investigations into Storm Financial did not commence until a formal complaint was received in November. The FPA requires such a basis to begin an investigation.
Bloch said the FPA is not currently investigating any other practices for similar conduct. Bloch said she believes Storm had “unique characteristics” and that there is no evidence to suggest other similar models so heavily based on gearing are in operation, particularly among the FPA’s principal members.
Sanders noted that a complaint must be made formally to be effective, adding “a whisper in the corner of a room over a coffee doesn’t constitute a complaint”.
“If anyone wants to table other organisations in the space we’re all ears,” Bloch said.
Bloch said last week she was hoping to give Storm clients “comfort, particularly where FPA members are involved, that we will take action if we need to”. The industry body is continuing its investigations around 10 former Storm planners who are members of the FPA, four of whom are Certified Financial Planners.
“Investors need to know that they can trust the advice they receive from financial planners who are members of the FPA,” Bloch said.
Bloch and Sanders remain in Townsville this morning to continue their meetings with FPA members.
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