NAB owned financial advice groups have been forced to make corrective disclosures after ASIC found they did not inform clients about relationships between the advisers, their licensees and product providers owned by the NAB Group.
ASIC said six NAB owned licensees were investigated – National Australia Bank Limited; Godfrey Pembroke Limited; Apogee Financial Planning Limited; GWM Adviser Services Limited; Meritum Financial Group Pty Ltd; and JBWere Limited – regarding advice given to clients to acquire products issued by NAB Group-related firms, including MLC branded products. (Note: MLC Life Insurance is a separate business owned primarily by Nippon Life.)
ASIC stated the non-disclosure occurred when customers were advised to acquire products issued by NAB Group-related firms, including MLC-branded products and were provided with Statements of Advice (SoA) and and Financial Services Guides (FSG) that did not disclose the connections between advisers, licensee and product provider.
The regulator stated that at least 150,000 customers have received deficient disclosures in an SoA or FSG…
The regulator stated that at least 150,000 customers have received deficient disclosures in an SoA or FSG in relation to MLC-branded products and boutique investment manager products with
NAB stated the lack of disclosure was the result of template documents for SoAs and FSGs not being updated from 2007 to early 2016 but was picked up in a review in late 2015, after which it notified ASIC and is working to correct the disclosure through online and written communications with clients.
NAB Executive General Manager of Wealth Advice, Greg Miller said an ongoing process to simplify processes and documents for clients had been taking place but “…Unfortunately we did not execute some of these changes well”.
“We apologise to our customers, and want to assure them that they did not impact the quality of advice they received from their adviser, and there is no impact on their investments or portfolios,” Miller said.
