BFCSA Blog

CommFP says ASIC always knew 16 June, 2014 Mike Taylor 5 comments Latest News Pay rises forecast for financial sector workers New dealer group picks up another practice Planners should ask hard questions to keep clients Healthy inflows boost retail and wholesale funds Solicitor free trust structure  Commonwealth Financial Planning (CommFP) has provided a Senate Committee with documents it says proves that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was well aware of the extent of its compensation arrangements.  The documentation, published on the Senate Committee's web site raises serious questions about why neither ASIC chairman, Greg Medcraft nor his deputy, Peter Kell, were made aware of the extent of CommFP's arrangements and the role of ASIC's own officers and why the regulator's original submission to the committee ultimately proved to be misleading.  ASIC chairman, Greg Medcraft last month issued a statement expressing concern that the regulator had been misled and foreshadowing the imposition...

ASIC finally wakes up to everyone else's nightmare DateJune 16, 2014 Read later John Addis http://www.smh.com.au/business/intelligent-investor/asic-finally-wakes-up-to-everyone-elses-nightmare-20140616-3a7me.html   Misconduct claims widen in CBA's planning scandal The Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological process whereby a hostage identifies with their kidnapper, to the point of defending the kidnapper's reasons for their own capture. For the past eight years ASIC appears to have been suffering from a similar condition, with only the public revelation of wrongdoing, rather than wrongdoing itself, provoking action. The Senate hearing into ASIC's performance shows the regulator emerging from its captive state to see the true state of financial planning at Commonwealth Bank. The daily revelations of big bank malpractice and regulatory inaction is a real-life horror show. In her work covering ASIC's investigation into Financial Wisdom and Commonwealth Financial Planning, both owned by CBA, Fairfax's Adele Ferguson reported on a 'mystery shopper' exercise conducted by ASIC in 2007. Covering 51 randomly selected planners, the...

New comments:  I am a new victim from 2012...Banks are Corrupt        <http://www.brokernews.com.au/templates/images/bl_list.gif>            Natalie, what happened to me by a rogue mortgage broker happened in 2012. So please dont speak when you know nothing and have not been affected? From a life of no worries and free of financial problems my life has become a worry from day to day, i have changed my whole life because of a rogue broker and cosl, fos and asic, all of who ignored my pleas. they know the loopholes and they play them. the broker made a lot of money from my "deal" and i was left to pick up the pieces of my life, including the humiliation and frustration of not being believed. Cowboys? Banks are corrupt, lets face it, why would CBA be facing $250million compensation for poor innocent people if they were 'the good guys'. This is not an old...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/explosive-claims-on-jp-morgan-conduct-20140525-38wq6.html Explosive claims on JP Morgan conduct BusinessBanking and Finance Michael West Date May 26, 2014 A technical support person who worked for JP Morgan in Australia claims the bank regularly misled its New York parent and the US Federal Reserve by failing to report losing trades.  The explosive allegations are contained in a submission by the person to the Senate inquiry into the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. BusinessDay has met the person and agreed to allow him to remain anonymous. He appears to be credible.  The person complained to ASIC and later went to work for the regulator, but he said the regulator failed to investigate his claims.  A spokesman for JP Morgan denied the allegations. "The claims are false and misleading," he said.  In his submission, published by the inquiry, the person said he was employed at the Sydney office of JP Morgan between 2004...

At loooooong last the bleeding obvious..........................................a glimmer of truth but no forgiveness from victims of ASIC's conflicted fuzzy thinking. ASIC admits conflict of interest shortcomings   inShare2           Written by James MitchellMonday, 12 May 2014   While he admits this is “not a nuanced version” of ASIC’s duties, Mr Kell said it does “capture our approach.” ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell has spoken candidly about the corporate regulator’s focus on disclosure, inability to weed out conflicts of interest and the impact on advisers. Speaking at the Centre for International Finance and Regulation conference in Sydney last week, Mr Kell said ASIC’s approach over the past 15 years has been “anything goes as long as you disclose”. “The role of disclosure is an underlying principle in structuring your regulatory requirements and regimes,” Mr Kell said. “That was central to the Wallis Inquiry regulatory philosophy and is central to...

If every BFCSA Member was sitting in a single auditorium tonight, watching FOUR CORNERS, a roar and thundering applause would be heard from all those who have suffered at the hands of the FOUR MAJOR BANKS.  Tonight was one peak at fraud, forgery, misleading & deceptive conduct, shredding documentation, cover-ups and lies at the hands of executives and lawyers at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.  Yes on the surface it appears to be a "Rogue Planner," who was well paid for his silence.   Yet decent Planners have been speaking out that over 100 Planners in the same bank were all doing the same things, under instructions from CBA, driven by huge commissions paid by greedy bankers, with some of these banks recording $8 billion in profits per year and more.  Shareholders have no idea of the risk exposure they are under right now. Industry bods have been at pains to...

Government designs laws to protect Consumers of superannuation products.  ASIC then waters down the effect of those laws to help out Industry mates.  See Coonan announcement 2004 and then ASIC Class Orders and complex changes = dog's breakfast.  Which dodo gave ASIC these powers? http://ministers.treasury.gov.au/DisplayDocs.aspx?doc=pressreleases/2004/053.htm&pageID=003&min=hlc&Year=&DocType=0   Helen Coonan Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer 26 November 2001 - 17 July 2004 Media Release of 21/06/2004   C053/04  21 June 2004    EMPLOYEES TO CONTROL THEIR SUPERANNUATION The Government has successfully negotiated an agreement with the Australian Democrats to give employees the right to choose their own superannuation fund, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Senator Helen Coonan said following the Prime Minister’s announcement today. “The Government announced its intentions to provide choice of funds to employees in 1996 but for eight years employees have been denied this basic right,” Senator Coonan said. “Substantial national benefits will flow from the introduction of choice...

We had a few pertinent questions to ask the Senate.  We sent those questions to the Senators.   Not one question was asked.  Instead messages to say "they will be asked in Camera." There has to be more transparency if we are ever going to enjoy TRUST and CONFIDENCE in the marketplace and particularly relating to consumer protection.   Small businesses have been screwed by banks.  Consumer Mums and Dads have been robbed of their life savings in systemic rorting and fraud and forgery that has been going on for more than two decades. The greatest lie was being perpetrated by the regulator Australian Securities and Investment Commission ("ASIC").  No questions should be asked IN CAMERA.  The public have paid dearly for the regulatory neglect we have all experienced or heard about the past few years.  TRUTH is bubbling to the service and the long suffering public have a right to know what is happening in the world of high finance from...

Michael West gives a very good summation of the current situation in the Australian financial marketplace. It's heartening to see somebody in mainstream media doing a proper job of chronicling this unfolding saga...  http://www.smh.com.au/business/a-ban-is-no-deterrent-for-bad-behaviour-20140411-36ih9.htmlUltimately, ASIC should realise, as more and more of this comes out in the Senate Inquiry about its reluctance to exercise authority, that the very thing ASIC has been trying to maintain, confidence in the marketplace, will be badly damaged through revelations that ASIC has allowed all of this fraud to occur on its watch and has willfully turned a blind eye to it all. ASIC has worked on the philosophy that by keeping quiet on all this white collar crime, only a few old retirees will be hurt and, hey, what are they going to do about it?   But, in the end, it is the entire Australian financial marketplace that will pay, as consumers of all kinds begin to lose...

Anyone listening to the Senate Inquiry into ASIC Performance today, would be forgiven for thinking: "we are listening to the same worn out excuses for non performance which consumers have had to suffer from ASIC hierarchy for more than a decade." Tanzer was the most pitiful, followed by Kell, and Medcraft was the icing on the cake.  After two years of Investigating LM investments, they have not been able to "conclude their inquires."  It's still ongoing and so was the endless twaddle coming from each member placed before the Senators. Kell left every answer to Kirk, and even he was challenged, stumbling on answers and then ending monologues with "I will take that on notice." As allegations of $10 million of wholesale products being sold to ordinary Mums and Dads, ASIC delivered a few more excuses, whilst Mr Medcraft kept muttering his dream words: "trust and confidence."  In your dreams Mr...

Dear Vic,  This system of fraud by FOS and COSL will be exposed I can assure you. The Financial Ombudsman's decisions and that of COSL favour the banks.    We have been collectively road testing their decisions.  For 12 months FOS has been systematically bi-passing the recommendation stage and there is no longer a panel of review.  The investigators are seconded by the banks (as in the IFSA scandal."   There are two arrogant ex banker men making decisions and saying:- "My decision is binding, take it or leave it, yes it favours the banks, but you now have the chance to go to court with no money.  Yes there is Maladministration in Lending, no we will not name the banks because most complaints involve the Major Banks who pay us (FOS) $5000 per complaint.  ASIC condone what we are doing, the banks will grab your home when we close our...

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Corporations_and_Financial_Services/asic/asic052/~/media/Committees/Senate/committee/corporations_ctte/asic/asic_05_2/e04.ashx In late 2004 and early 2005, ASIC undertook a surveillance looking at whether advisers were complying with their obligations to disclose, in the Statement of Advice (SOA) given to clients, the costs, possible loss of benefits and other significant consequences of following advice to switch super funds.  During this surveillance, ASIC uncovered some cases where the interests of clients were harmed by poor advice. PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT The purpose of this report is twofold: •  to explain the methodology behind the surveillance; and •  to illustrate the results of the surveillance in simple language. PROJECT METHODOLOGY ASIC started surveillance on superannuation switching advice in December 2004 to assess how financial advisers were, at that time, complying with new legal obligations relating to advice to switch superannuation products. ASIC’s surveillance sample included 19 AFS licensees and 93 representatives of those licensees. Initially, ASIC reviewed 101 client files in which personal...

Senators need to question:  ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer, Director Malcolm Rodgers and ASIC General Counsel Brendan Byrne as to why they signed Dec 2005 Class Order 05/1122 – exemption on serviceability calculators for Low Doc Loans – risks to consumers: 15 Dec 2005 In May 2005, IFSA suggested, according to the Wheeldon evidence (2nd April 2014), that if ASIC lawyers did not sign off on the EXEMPTIONS for Superannuation Calculators they would lean on the Commissioners.   Parliament would put in place laws to protect consumers and ASIC would then give exemptions from prosecution to the Banking Fraternity - the very people who had been preying on vulnerable Australians for years.  The laws were to protect people.  ASIC gave immunity to the Bankers and left consumers exposed to catastrophic losses of homes and life savings. The Sub Prime purpose of all these calculators: to entice and entrap consumers into RISKY strategies, investment advice, toxic loans...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/revealing-look-at-asics-practices-20140402-35z1s.html   Revealing look at ASIC's practices Banking and Finance       Business  Michael West  SMH Date April 3, 2014 - 12:04AM James Wheeldon joined the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in mid-2004. It was his first legal job in Australia after graduating from Harvard Law School in 2000. He had just spent four years doing merger and acquisition deals with top-tier New York City law firm Skadden Arps. "I joined ASIC because I thought I would be working in the public service," says Wheeldon. "Silly me".  Assigned to the regulatory policy branch, he was soon to review an application for relief submitted under RG51 by the Investment and Financial Services Association, the body representing Australia's banks and big retail superannuation funds.  "This was not the first time I witnessed ASIC favouritism for the big banks but it was the most egregious thing I saw during my time with the regulator."IFSA,...

   ASIC’S FALSE AND MISLEADING RESPONSE TO PARLIAMENT contained in their supplementary submission #45.1.  BFCSA responded to these in our Supp Sub # 156.1   IN BRIEF AND KEY POINTS   Response to 85 & 86  (pg 23)  ASIC states: “there was no specific onus on lenders to ensure that borrowers could afford to repay loans.”  (see s 25.1 of the Bankers Code – now 27.1)   That is a false assertion and likely to mislead the Senators and the Inquiry.   Response to 95 (pg 24) “ASIC has been looking for evidence of breaches of the law.”   Response to 96 (pg 24) “It is difficult to establish that conduct is unconscionable”   Response to 97 (pg 25) ASIC states: “Context of earlier laws……the material provided by borrowers does not provide evidence of breaches of the law by the credit providers involved.  It does not establish:   a)Lenders had awareness...

       INTRODUCTION ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT by Denise Brailey: 20th Feb 2014   Thank you Senators, I would like to begin my perspective of ASIC’s performance with a detailed summary of my 15 years of dealing with ASIC at Commissioner Level, in most States. My files harbour an extensive historical record of consumer complaints being ignored by ASIC. Now in 2014, we read another few hundred submissions stating the same lack of confidence exists when vulnerable consumers are forced to deal with ASIC.   Individual losses from the pockets of hard working Australians ought to be of considerable concern to the Australian Parliament. Serious financial burdens placed upon older people losing their homes, retirement funds, and financial security places an immense burden on our economy.   Firstly, I would like to table the original 2001 LIST of SCAMS that I uncovered 1997 to 2001. I briefed ASIC hierarchy in meetings...

ASIC silent on possible Macquarie whistleblower   ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell. 24 Feb 2014     http://www.financialobserver.com.au/articles/asic-silent-on-possible-macquarie-whistleblower By Kate Kachor  8  21     Related Articles: Macquarie rebuilding wealth division | Macquarie advisers caught out, wealth unit under review |     Senior members of the corporate regulator have refused to provide details about the possible existence of an informant within Macquarie Bank’s wealth management division. ASIC representatives, including chair Greg Medcraft and deputy chair Peter Kell, last week offered scant detail to a Senate committee in response to how issues within Macquarie Equities Limited (MEL) came to their attention.Macquarie’s banking and wealth division came under siege last year when MEL agreed to an enforceable undertaking (EU) with the regulator.The EU followed a nine-month ASIC investigation that uncovered a number of recurring compliance deficiencies “by and in the supervision of MEL’s advisers”.In response to a direct question on whether an informant tipped off ASIC about the “problems...

Dear Mortgage Brokers You will all become the prize bunnies under the new NCCP laws.  Why?  Banks made onus on you to verify documentation, even though you do not have the resources, the training or qualification and are not licensed to do this task. Even though same laws apply to Banks (and have for years), ASIC is  taking NO ACTION AGAINST LENDERS.  Instead ASIC will ignore the piece of legislation that says the Banker is responsible for verification of loan documents and instead ASIC will ping a few Brokers. THIS IS A CRIME SCENE INVENTED BY THE BANKS.............................and in crime - there is always a scapegoat.   Look in the Mirror..........................say three times; "The Banks are setting me UP.  Approval of loans is the duty owed by the Bank to its customers under s27.1 of the Bankers Code....Banks owe that duty, not me, but I am being made the SCAPEGOAT." Then...

1.  The Bank copy of the LAFs which were missing and never sent to Storm or the customers remained hidden despite a Senate Inquiry 2.   Banks Officers known as Business Development Managers BDM's frequented Storm offices - to teach Brokers how to use the CBA Service Calculator 3.  The Faxed copy of LAF from Bank (those who have secured their copy) differs from the originals. 4.  Only Brokers who kept their originals and ignored bank warnings to "shred the wet-ink LAF" have proof.  Proof the Broker was not the culprit 5.  Brokers are saying they were under instructions from Banks that ALL LAFs faxed to bank must have SERVICE CALCULATOR page and ICW (worksheet) attached to the LAF.   6.  Bank customers were told to sign  "we have read and understood everything" yet Banks only asked for three pages to be presented to all clients, knowing all other pages had...

FOS 'lacks timeliness': Independent review http://www.brokernews.com.au/news/breaking-news/fos-lacks-timeliness-independent-review-185299.aspxby Calida Smylie | 13 Mar 2014   An independent review of the Financial Ombudsman Service has found the external dispute regulator’s organisational model inefficient and needs a make-over.The reviewer, consultant Cameronralph Navigator, assessed FOS against ASIC’s benchmarks for external dispute resolution (EDR) schemes – accessibility, independence, fairness, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.It found FOS, an ASIC-approved EDR scheme, did not meet its benchmark for efficiency and caused undue delays when dealing with disputes.Cameronralph Navigator said FOS needed to take immediate steps to clear its backlog and refresh its organisational approach.It recommended FOS be more proactive and change its approach to dealing with disputes involving financial difficulty by taking a more "assertive approach"."The primary issue identified by our analysis is the configuration of FOS into a series of 'production line' steps, each focusing on a particular dispute resolution technique,” the review said.“This is designed to progressively filter out the...