ASIC

Financial planning

Adviser pleads guilty to misappropriating $2.9m

Financial adviser Ross Hopkins has pleaded guilty to misappropriating $2.9 million in client funds after an investigation by the corporate regulator....

Financial planning

BNPL sector under ASIC scrutiny over late fee revenue

Buy now, pay later providers have responded to a regulatory report from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission which warned of consumers forgoing essentials...

Financial planning

FASEA and ASIC face Parliamentary code of ethics scrutiny

Both the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority face having to explain the circumstances behind a key s...

Features

2020 – a year of incidents and challenges

Amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian financial advisers were also witness to significant changes, writes Mike Taylor, not least with respect to AMP an...

Policy & Regulation

ASIC reaches into super trying to couple DDO with member outcomes

Superannuation funds are being subjected to more scrutiny from the corporate regulator over how they deliver insurance inside super to members at the same time as the reg...

Policy & Regulation

ASIC uncertain whether KPMG’s Shipton tax advice covered options

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has clarified that the regulator only paid for tax advice to its stood-aside chairman, James Shipton, but can’t say w...

Financial planning

Women still largely underrepresented among planners

Almost 80% of financial planners, who are registered under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Financial Adviser Register, are men. ...

Superannuation

Industry fund declares clean hands on investment switching

Faced by suggestions of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, industry fund NGS Super has declared clean hands on investment switching...

Superannuation

ASIC investigates super fund trustee and executive COVID-19 investment switching

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating a range of investment switches undertaken by trustees and executives of major superannuation funds. ...

Financial planning

ASIC claims its tough adviser enforcement builds consumer confidence

Enforcing the law against advisers is all part and parcel of building consumer confidence in the financial planning industry, according to the Australian Securities and I...

Financial planning

ASIC's consumer panel advised on FASEA code submission

A link has been uncovered between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Consumer Advisory Panel and a key submission regarded as highly supportive of the...

Financial planning

Advisers query ASIC role in academics' FASEA submission

A designation of work by two Griffith University academics as “consultancy/commercial research” has raised questions about the status of a 2018 submission to the Financia...

Financial planning

AAT upholds SMSF adviser ban

The corporate regulator’s ban on Perth self-managed super fund adviser Wayne Blazejczyk has been upheld by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal....

Financial planning

Former Macquarie adviser charged

Warren Acworth has been charged with offenses relating to false or misleading statements and fraud after an investigation by the corporate regulator....

Policy & Regulation

Former financial adviser convicted for dishonest conduct

In the first criminal prosecution for offending of this kind, Mark Kawecki has been convicted and fined $30,000 for dishonest conduct relating to artificially satisfying ...