{"id":28146,"date":"2014-11-25T19:44:46","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T08:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/?p=28146"},"modified":"2014-12-10T07:02:15","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T20:02:15","slug":"fpa-calls-for-improved-whistleblowing-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2014\/11\/25\/fpa-calls-for-improved-whistleblowing-framework\/","title":{"rendered":"FPA Calls for Improved Whistleblowing Framework"},"content":{"rendered":"

A co-regulatory model, which encourages sharing of information between industry bodies, would help remove wrong-doers from the advice profession, according to the Financial Planning Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>
Mark Rantall, FPA CEO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking to riskinfo during the FPA\u2019s Professionals Congress, held in Adelaide from 19-21 November, FPA CEO, Mark Rantall<\/strong>, said the removal of \u2018bad apples\u2019 from the profession was one of the reasons why the FPA was lobbying so hard for a co-regulatory model.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have, for a long time now, talked about a co-regulatory model with the regulator, ASIC in this case, the profession, and licensees. It\u2019s exactly that issue that would benefit from a co-regulatory model. Under the umbrella of privacy, we would be able to share information about situations where inappropriate advice is being given, and each party could then take the appropriate action to make sure that consumer protection was in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is also the benefit of the ASIC (adviser) register. If each of those parties took action – the regulator, the profession and the licensee – and there\u2019s an adviser register, then it leaves advisers who are giving inappropriate advice nowhere to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our mind, it\u2019s not a silver bullet, but it\u2019s a wonderful mechanism to ensure that, if there are financial planners out there deliberately doing the wrong thing, that they\u2019re identified, dealt with, and not able to continue to do the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

…if they\u2019re outed on the register, they\u2019ve got nowhere to go<\/h6>\n

Mr Rantall reiterated this view on a panel discussion about whistleblowing within the financial advice sector, highlighting the importance of individuals taking a stand against wrong-doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you close ranks around a problem adviser, through your licensee, your profession, and your regulator, and if they\u2019re outed on the register, they\u2019ve got nowhere to go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Rantall was joined on the panel by Commonwealth Bank advice scandal whistleblower, Jeff Morris<\/strong>, and lawyer Peter Bobbin<\/strong>, who used the legal profession to illustrate the value of a \u2018profession guarding its own\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get an email from the Law Society every week, which among other things includes the details of any practitioner who has had their license suspended or revoked \u2013 that happens in every profession. But it\u2019s not on the front pages; it\u2019s in an email that comes directly to me. And I rejoice in that. Because it means it\u2019s my profession guarding my profession,\u201d Mr Bobbin said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that while, to date, the systems to support whistleblowers, both inside organisations and through the regulator, needed improvement, recent events, such as the Parliamentary inquiry into ASIC\u2019s handling of the CBA advice scandal, were likely to lead to positive change.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m sick of seeing groups of victims on TV<\/h6>\n

\u201cPerhaps in five or ten years\u2019 time we can look back and say: \u2018This is where the proper culture of ethics and caring for clients stemmed from\u2019. I\u2019m hopeful that ASIC will feel so \u2018bashed over the head with this\u2019 that they\u2019ll take some risks, and go out and attack financial planners \u2013 the ones that are not good for the profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Bobbin also pointed out that a failure to report a serious, indictable offence could lead to jail time.<\/p>\n

\u201cFraud, for example, is a serious, indictable offence. So the law says that if you know or you reasonably believe that fraud has been committed, and you don\u2019t bring that to the attention of the police, and had you done so it may have led to a conviction, then there is a potential risk of jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

All panellists did, however, acknowledge that whistleblowing was a very difficult, and often traumatic event, and it took courage to stand up against injustice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly tough process,\u201d conceded Mr Morris. \u201cNo matter how hard you think it\u2019s going to be, it\u2019s harder. But the thing is, you get back up and you keep going, and you keep getting stronger and stronger. Now I look back and think: \u2018Look at what we\u2019ve achieved\u2019. This really is a catalyst for change. Personally, I\u2019m sick of seeing groups of victims on TV. There\u2019s a section of the industry that brings us all into disgrace \u2013 that hasn\u2019t changed. It is unfair to the planner population, and it needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A co-regulatory model, which encourages sharing of information between industry bodies, would help remove wrong-doers from the advice profession, according to the Financial Planning Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[282,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-associations","7":"category-compliance-regulation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}