Since 2015 a total of 175 advisers have been disciplined in some capacity via ASIC and the courts, according to Wealth Data.
Writing in his latest Financial Adviser Insights, Wealth Data’s Colin Williams says the most disciplinary actions occurred during 2019, with a total of 34 advisers affected.
Williams has put together a chart which highlights the total number of disciplinary actions (DAs) by individual advisers for each year since 2015, and he says in percentage terms the numbers are very low.
“For example, in 2019 the average number of advisers was 25,712 and with 34 DAs that is only 0.13% of the advisers or one in every 756 advisers.”
He adds that given the level of scrutiny post the Royal Commission “…these figures may seem very low.”
Williams explains the orange line in the graph signifies the number of DAs that do not have an end date, noting that most of these occur when the adviser has been permanently banned.
“The data supplied by ASIC is often a little vague on this. The total number is 48. Not shown are the number of advisers that are current, this is only at seven”.
Williams states that when looking at 2023, the number is currently at four “…but when reviewing media releases from ASIC for ‘advisers’ there are many more than four for 2023.”
What often happens is that a media release relates to a case that commenced pre-2023.
“For example, in the latest case, the banning of an adviser from Queensland that was released by ASIC on June 6, 2023, the banning order took effect from September 2022,” he says.
