An email sent from Dover director Terry McMaster to Dover advisers today, obtained by ifa, explains that Dover’s AFSL will be cancelled.
“Following an agreement reached with ASIC earlier this week, I am writing to inform you that Dover Financial Advisers Pty Ltd will cease to operate as an AFSL,” the email said.
“We have been negotiating with ASIC about the most orderly way for this to happen.”
The letter indicates that the authority of all Dover advisers will be withdrawn and no new advice will be able to be provided from today.
“Dover’s authorised representatives may implement advice in the period to 6 July 2018 provided the instructions were received from their clients on or before 8 June 2018,” the letter confirms.
“We very much apologise for the short notice,” it continues. “The above was only agreed in the last 72 hours.”
It also apologised for the “impersonal” medium in which the announcement was made, explaining that contacting advisers individually was not feasible, before re-emphasising the terms of the ASIC agreement.
“It is very important that you understand that, from today forward, you cannot provide any new advice or service to clients. There are no exceptions to this,” the email said.
“Any such advice or service will be in direct contradiction of ASIC’s requirements.
“As you can imagine, ASIC are watching the way that we wind the AFSL down very closely.”
The letter also confirms that Dover’s staff will be “discontinuing their employment with us in the near future”.
It does not offer any substantive reasons for the closure, explaining that Dover will not be able to provide advisers with “any further information about [the] negotiations with ASIC”.
However, Mr McMaster does insinuate that the fallout from his evidence to the royal commission’s second hearings has played a role.
“As you know, our business has been under substantial public scrutiny in recent months,” he said.
“If the last six weeks have shown us anything, it is that it is easy for statements to be interpreted in ways other than how we expect.”
The letter concludes that the mission to provide a “direct, unconflicted model” for financial advice became “impossible”.
Dover has 407 authorised representatives as at March 2018, according to Adviser Ratings.
Mr McMaster famously collapsed on the stand while being cross-examined by counsel assisting the royal commission Mark Costello QC.
During proceedings, Mr Costello described elements of Dover’s business model as “Orwellian”.
Do you know more about this? aleks.vickovich@momentummedia.com.au
Bye Dova, we will miss ya ex -ar
From what I am reading, and i may be wrong, Dover did not have PI in place, is that correct?
What actually happens with funds under management now and what should clients do?
Dover does not hold any client monies other than adviser fees paid (yet to be paid to the adviser).
The cancellation of Dover’s licence will not affect any client investments.
Any clients of a Dover adviser should speak to their adviser who will be able to reassure them that they are working hard to minimise any impact to client services.
Funds under management are in trust structures, so no biggie for the clients, their funds are safe. As if you’d get a Ben Dover dude to actually invest your money how they saw fit…
1. Your Ben joke is not funny.
2. Your unsubstantiated smear of many hardworking honest advisers is not useful.
Am I arguing with myself?
I thought it was hilarious
I think I am arguing with myself…..
Regardless of what happened (it could not have been worse than the sins of the banks) this process could have been done more in the “clients Best interests”. Having all the clients of some 400 advises not being able to access financial advice in the month leading up to 30 June is a disgrace.
If Dover is forced to wind up by an order from ASIC then groups like AMP, CBA Financial Planning, NAB should immediately be shut down NOW. CBA is the reason why we’ve got FASEA. How could the behavior of the CBA, as demonstrated in the CBA advice issues, be worse than Dover?
Clearly the difference is that CBA has a large cheque-book and keep buying their way out of trouble.
And a professional indemnity policy, a management team that doesn’t crumble under a little bit of pressure, not outsourcing key requirements to Vietnam, do you want me to continue…
and yet due to CBA, the ordinary adviser (and Australian) gets stuck with a poor reputation, FoFA, opt in, FDS, FASEA, etc etc etc etc. You’re 110% correct about the large cheque book, but from the perspective of improving advice in Australia the treatment of Dover in comparison to the CBA group is absolutely disgusting.
What a stupid ignorant comment.
Don’t think so. You need to crawl out of that closed off little rock you’re hiding under at either CBA or AMP land.
Actually it was Storm that started all this.
It’s time AMP is closed once and for all. Storm & Westpoint resulted in FoFA. CBA and the FPA lead to FASEA. As soon as AMP and CBA are banned from providing advice the better it will be for all of us. Hopefully the Royal Commission will clean them out once and for all.
ASIC didn’t shut this down in one day. The owner did. ASIC are always too slow to act – never hasty or too fast. I’m sure there were failings at Dover, like there were at WealthSure, AMP and everyone else, but they all get a chance to fix it. This is purely on the owner. Short price offered that they will be in receivership next week. Where does that leave the advisers? Product providers contract is with the dealer groups, not us?
Lots of clients will be disadvantage- end of fin year and you cant give a soa. Yikes. Disgusting that cba fin planning can get away with so much and never suspended even a minute.
Clients can engage another planner (AMP, CBA, etc.), no problem. Did Dover planners wait till mid-June to start advising their clients on end of year strategies?
Get real…So you reckon there a no advisers doing RoA or SoA’s in June? If your choice of advisers now comes to (to quote the media) “a salesperson ” from AMP/CBA God help those people.
OK, the folk at Henderson Maxwell have a bit of time on their hands, maybe they can pump out all the SOAs and (ahem) ROAs that Dover planners use to get via Vietnam in the last 15 days of the financial year. Great days ahead. God? help whoever believes he may exist.
Before any of you advisers and dealer groups throw any stones you are all in this together and you have all done the wrong thing many times over many years. You may of hidden it well, covered it in a huge SOA and been compliant for paperwork but I assure you that you would all fail, yes 100% of you would fail bar none if ASIC or any other moral police went through your files and business in detail.
Dopey clients paying too much, most clients not needing your pathetic “fee for service” con. The list is huge and you all do it and you all would fail the sniff test.
Care to deny or comment with a hat full of cliche statements about service and caring. Good, put you real name and contact details down and volunteer for an audit.
I wonder if you could suggest a better way to operate a financial service as an adviser. Maybe a fee for service model. At what price. $20 per hour. No. It would be much higher taking into account operational costs, compliance, development via cpd and other matters. Say $275 per hour. So what shall be the typical client. Obviously the well healed. Those that can afford the advice. Thats the issue. Your comment seems to point a finger, offer no solution that is workable.
Clients are not dopes. With a population carrying more debt than ever before, an ageing population, 13% Of people living in poverty according to the Australian council of social services, 27% of people now finding cost of living pressures making them vulnerable to homelessness as identified by the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, solutions must be found as the nation slides into a disaster such that with low wage growth in 2 decades, we cannot afford to ignore. So spare us your pious words and provide a solution. We wait for you sir. The majority of the clients that seek advice do so seeking help. I admit there are some bad apples and they need removal. This is in ALL professions and workplaces, even tradespeople, builders, accountants, real estate agents, mortgage brokers etc. Hence the ACCC and consumer laws. Get facts correct. As a lawyer, i find your comments hollow and nonsense. We need solutions, not ignorance.
Apart from the grammar, punctuation and syntax errors there you are quite the bitter person Steven. We have all seen this from you in previous posts. So why not post your “real name and contact details” (as you have suggested others do) and we will see if you can stand up to scrutiny. Guess not huh?
Steven, I told a nuffie or two like yourself on this website and other sites on an ongoing basis (probably for three years or more) that Dover (or as I cheekily called it ben dover) was the planner group of last resort and was housing a lot of poor advisers and practices.
Told another nuffie they weren’t called up to the Royal Commission for a cup of tea and scones on this website from memory.
Now you’re asking for real names and contact details without providing your own. That about says it all.
Rittance? That’s not even a word. What about sparing a thought for the hard working men and women under that licensee?
Why good ‘riddance’ anonymous? It appears that Dover were one of very few dealer groups who tried to run an advice model that was free from conflicted remuneration ie; no payments from product manufacturers. Are you stating for the record that an unconflicted model is not in the client’s best interest? Wouldnt happen to work for a VI entity would you? It seems that vested interests have won the day again. And before you ask – we have our own AFSL so couldn’t give a rats about Dover but your highly intelligent comment shows your lack of empathy for the 400 ARs who now have to find a new dealer group.
very true
Green_eggs, no payment from product manufacturers… Dover? AIOFP member firms?
Learn a little bit more about the industry before posting in the future.
Reality is there are many worse dealer groups than Dover. My guess is there will be several other’s to follow.
In my opinion, Dover was the best dealer group.
All the others are aligned by product or volume, which is inherently conflicted with the ‘client’s best interest’ principle.
Dover was the perfect size for ASIC to squash.
The big guys are just that, too big.
And the small guys? Well, why bother? Too much effort for little media reward.
I concur Socrates, a great dealer group old Benny Dover, picking up ”the fish that that the John West financial planning groups rejected”, outsourcing to Vietnam, a strong management team when under pressure of a Royal Commission or ASIC, a professional indemnity policy that was an industry leader, what a model to aspire to, we all should benchmark against it.
What a disgrace that ASIC would put advisers in a position where they cannot provide advice or service to their clients with no notice at all. What an evil, morally bankrupt organisation. It can take months to find a new licensee or set up a new AFSL. I wasn’t a fan of Dover, but this is shameful behaviour. Think about the disruption, confusion and anxiety this will inflict upon their clients. Shame on you ASIC.
We are still waiting for ASIC to do the same to AMP, CBA, ANZ, NAB, WPC. Or are these guys too BIG to FAIL???? Don;t hold your breath on that one.
Dover was the perfect size for ASIC (all brawn and less brain). Crushing smaller AFSL’ s would not give them as much media attention or satisfaction.
The big banks and insurance companies are too big for this bully.
Bigger pockets and a continuing professional indemnity policy. Unlike Dover.
Thats a great comment, come and feed my kid you c…
response, you had kids? Someone actually wanted to breed with you?
Hallelujah!!!!!!
I have been waiting for this day for years. my years of wailing and lamentations have finally paid off. there is hope for this industry. we will be great again. today is the first day of our victory. we are victorious today.
Good Won and[b] Evil Lost today!
[/b][u][/u]
next, exam in 2019 (which most of you useless people will fail), then degree requirement, and total decimation of the industry then green shoots and revival of what will be a noble profession that will rival any other and all will be well again
no bigger fool like an educated one, assuming you are educated.
For those licensees who are considering recruiting Dover AR’s save yourself the grief. 99% of them will not pass the FASEA exam, have only a DFP and are a low quality (or very poor) and no degree nor the wherewithal to complete one.
Do yourselves a favor and let’s cut these people loose.
they are best doing what they did in their previous lives, sleeping as homeless people on park benches.
good luck leeches i am so glad you have been locked out go back to doing dog grooming
uber is also hiring at $10.00 per hour chums
Most licensees are shedding, not hiring. I’d say the best option for the Dover folk cast adrift in to get their own AFSL. Potentially, if possible, ever.
Good luck with that one. They’ll all go broke waiting for ASIC to process the application!
Ssshhh, I know McKipper, I just don’t want to get into a cab or uber with an ex-Dover financial planner at the wheel.
Plaudits to ASIC for their swift action. This is exactly what we need. The name [b]ASIC and Audit[/b][u][/u] together should make AFSL licensees, responsible managers, senior managers and executives, and authorized reps pee their pants in fear. ASIC should be a feared regulator that is a tornado that destroys wrongdoers who make a mockery of the spirit and the letter of the law.
Terry McMaster[b] and his ilk are[/b][u][/u] the reason the financial planning industry is in ruin.
Next Step, Law Institute of Victoria to strike him off as a lawyer.
Who’s next?????
Appears to be an Icarus moment for McMaster. A shame for no doubt the majority of the advisers with Dover trying to run a practice. Will there be another class action, Dover ars v McMaster?
Over reaction from ASIC and Dover – they now have thousands of clients that are left in limbo and nowhere to go – I am sure that not all their advice was poor and not all their reps were doing the wrong thing – but as per usual – the media sensationalizes a story, ASIC and the politicians respond to the media and the public suffers
The advisers are the ones here who have been sold out by Dover and Terry McMaster. He has a lot to answer to over all this.
Just don’t ask Biscuits any difficult questions where he might incriminate himself, we all know where that leads.
So typical of Dover – in it for them(him)self. Such short notice leaves the advisers completely in the lurch with their clients – and poor client outcomes overall. McMaster was always in it for himself – with his rapid withdrawal just a mechanism to protect his $$$. Do you think ASIC would have endorsed or supported such a quick closure? Please…. But the industry is better off without him. The Dover advisers – well
sorry – dreams never come true. Good luck finding another license….
407 Advisers now homeless and no income. AMP did far worse and criminal charges to follow but they still hold their license. Unintended consequences to follow and over reaching legislation for the minority will trash our industry. This is all bad news people. I am not one to rejoice in others misfortune. Spare a thought to those 407 souls who wake up tomorrow unable to work.
Homeless? Not yet, unlikely.
No income? Maybe interrupted
Souls? They ain’t dead yet. Soulless most likely.
It’s not just 407 AR’s – it is also the families, paraplanners, receptionists, juniors, tech support, software and other suppliers, etc, etc – probably closer to 1500 up to 2500+ people directly affected, with no money coming in, despite ongoing client fees being fed to Dover.
IMO, the entire AFSL structure is stupid, perverted, and incentivises corruption and abuse.
Why should an ostensibly educated, qualified, and experienced Adviser need to be “Authorised” by a commercial entity with its own biases, interests, and failings, rather than purely supplying contracted back office services? Do advisers lose their knowledge, qualifications, experience, and client relationships, developed over perhaps decades when moving between “Licensees”?
Do doctors, lawyers, engineers, quantity surveyors, property conveyors, mechanics, carpenters, builders, project managers, or forklift operators lose their qualifications when moving jobs, or are subject to this counter productive, extraordinarily expensive, rife with exploitation system, designed by idiot politicians, failed academics, controlling lawyers, and entrepreneur hating bureaucrats to control, bludgeon, and engender fear of “Non compliance” in peons?
The vast majority of Advisers are competent, and have their client’s best interests at heart. People aren’t stupid or blind, and they know that anyone sitting opposite has to make money, pay their bills, feed their family, and maintain their reputation, while providing value for money.
Something stinks here, and methinks there are A LOT of hidden agendas.
Good rittence.
Good spelling
Rittence?
Firstly, it’s riddance. Secondly, let’s deploy some empathy towards the Dover Advisers, many of whom have a cloud over their livelihood when they have done absolutely nothing wrong.
I’m all about protecting the client but this seems a little kneejerk and reckless from ASIC’s point of view.
Do you reckon Terry ”biscuits” McMaster crumbled under a little bit of ASIC pressure? Not the first time in recent history this has happened.
I gather the Dover potential inability to have a professional indemnity provider didn’t help.