Adviser Peer Review Panel – Key Names Confirmed

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A former adviser association CEO and another association’s former chair, along with a number of practising advisers, have been confirmed in a 31-member panel of part‑time members of the Government’s Financial Services and Credit Panel (FSCP), while ASIC has also announced compensation for financial advice related misconduct has reached $3.15 billion.

A statement from Senator Jane Hume explains the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response – Better Advice) Act 2021 establishes the FSCP within ASIC as the single disciplinary body for financial advisers from 1 January 2022. ASIC will be responsible for convening individual panels to consider disciplinary matters.

Brad Fox.

Among the 31 panel members named are Brad Fox, who was the AFA’s CEO for four years until 2017 and Julie Berry, who was the chair of the FPA between 2007 and 2010. She is currently the chair of the FPA’s Future2 Foundation.

Among the practicing advisers on the panel are Sam Robinson who is now AFA National Treasurer, having been Victoria State Director for five years and Katherine Hayes the AFA’s NSW/ACT State Director.

The other newly appointed members are:

  • Shabnam Amirbeaggi
  • Debra Anderson
  • Gabrielle Bouffler
  • Kathryn Brown
  • Donna Caird
  • Ian Chambers
  • James Cotis
  • Donald Crellin
  • Gary Croker
  • Bruce Debenham
  • Hamish Dee
  • Gary Deegan
  • Jennifer Diggle
  • David Giovanelli
  • William Hamilton
  • Nicholas Hilton
  • Ross Illingworth
  • Chris MacEachern
  • David Murray
  • Melissa Nolan
  • Peter Richards
  • Kevin Smith
  • Craig Stephens
  • Judith Sullivan
  • Gary Toomey
  • Lauren Walker
  • Matthew Wigzell.
Julie Berry.

Senator Hume says the members of the FSCP have been appointed “…following consultation with industry to ensure the membership has industry knowledge and experience. Financial advisers’ misconduct will therefore be assessed and sanctioned by their peers, driving further improvements in the industry.”

She says the candidates bring with them a range of knowledge and experience across the fields of business, administration of companies, financial markets, financial products and financial services, law, economics, accounting, taxation and credit activities and credit services.

The statement also notes that each panel must consist of a Chair (an ASIC staff member) and at least two other members, which ASIC must select from a list of the eligible people appointed by the Minister.

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that the David Murray named on the panel was a former Commonwealth Bank CEO. This is not the David Murray who has been appointed to the panel.

Compensation for financial advice related misconduct reaches $3.15 billion – ASIC

In other ASIC news, six of Australia’s largest banking and financial services institutions have paid, or offered, a total of $3.15 billion in compensation, as at 31 December 2021, to customers who suffered loss or detriment because of fees for no service misconduct or non-compliant advice.

A statement from ASIC says this includes almost $1.3 billion, paid or offered by the institutions between 1 July to 31 December 2021 (see: Compensation for Misconduct Tops $1 Billion).

The regulator says that AMP, ANZ, CBA, Macquarie, NAB and Westpac undertook the review and remediation programs to compensate affected customers as a result of two major ASIC reviews. ASIC commenced the reviews to look into:

  • The extent of failure by the institutions to deliver ongoing advice services to financial advice customers who were paying fees to receive those services
  • How effectively the institutions supervised their financial advisers to identify and deal with ‘non-compliant advice’ – i.e. personal advice provided to a retail client by an adviser who did not comply with the relevant conduct obligations in the Corporations Act, such as the obligations to give appropriate advice or to act in the best interests of the clients, at the time the advice was given.

The table below provides a breakdown of the compensation payments made or offered by the institution as at 31 December 2021.

Courtesy of ASIC.