A Melbourne-based financial planning group has appointed a compliance expert and is bolstering its adviser training requirements after ASIC surveillance identified concerns surrounding the appropriateness of advice the group had provided to clients.
InterPrac Financial Planning, which holds an Australian financial services licence, has agreed to address the corporate watchdog’s concerns and is currently undertaking a number of measures to improve its advice process and ensure clients receive appropriate financial advice.
This includes appointing a compliance expert to assess and review SMSF advice and contacting clients who may have received poor advice to let them know what dispute resolution options are available to them.
InterPrac advisers were now required to undertake additional training that would stress replacement product disclosure and the best interests duty, ASIC said.
Furthermore, all advisers providing SMSF advice to clients were required to complete specialist SMSF training, with some advisers required to be placed on a pre-vet program, it said.
To confirm its concerns were addressed, ASIC said the group was required to report back to the regulator regarding the implementation of the measures so the business’s progress could be monitored.
“The SMSF sector continues to grow rapidly and more Australians than ever before are either considering or operating an SMSF,” ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said.
“ASIC will closely monitor advisers on SMSFs to ensure they have the processes in place to provide consistently good financial advice to consumers.”
ASIC said InterPrac had fully cooperated with the regulator in addressing its concerns.
InterPrac was founded in 2001 and provides a range of financial services to clients of National Tax and Accountants Association members.
