Yesterday, the FPA issued a press release announcing it has expelled former NAB financial planner Shylesh Sriranjan of Melbourne for cheating on his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) exam.
The FPA also announced that member Darren Tindall was found to have engaged in “misleading, deceptive, dishonest and fraudulent conduct”.
Neither Mr Tindall nor Mr Sriranjan had publicly accessible ASIC action announcements against them.
Asked whether the specific naming of expelled members via press release is a change in strategy for the FPA, chief executive Dante De Gori denied the allegation.
“No,” Mr De Gori replied by email, without any further elaboration. He also confirmed that ASIC was not involved in the investigations, but that they are conducted by the FPA’s Conduct Review Commission (CRC).
Mr De Gori’s response comes despite the ifa team having never previously received a formal FPA press release naming individuals that did not follow an official ASIC enforcement activity announcement.
According to yesterday’s statement, the two members were investigated by the CRC – an independent body set up to ensure members adhere to the FPA’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
Mr Sriranjan was found to have used information obtained from another exam candidate by swapping exam papers during the CFP certification exam.
The CRC also found that Mr Tindall supposedly engaged in fraudulent conduct to obtain life insurance for a client who was otherwise unlikely to obtain it.
Mr Tindall committed serious breaches of privacy involving a number of client records, the statement said.
The FPA said the CRC has a responsibility to determine disciplinary action brought by the FPA against members, the statement said.
“Our world class Code of Professional Practice is a key component of our Professional Framework that fosters high professional standards and consumer protection,” Mr De Gori said in the release.
“Any breach of the FPA code is taken very seriously as it undermines the reputation of all members.”
Looks like there may be a lot of grandfathered CFP fossils on IFA by the amount of ‘thumbsdown’ on posts below!
12 of them… :):):)
Same amount of thumbs for both posts..
Be good if they could use their words instead of taking the FPA approach. Stay quiet and hope it blows over… That’s what they did during the GFC… No support at all. Please answer the points i raised.
Why are the silent about instos that are their major backers
& what do they intend to do about the Grandfathered CFP people.
And finally, Lets give a Big Shout out to CBA and their latest appointment… The x head of the fpa..
If only the grandfathered CFPs were fossils! The FPA is constantly trying to dismiss the grandfathered CFP issue as irrelevant by claiming there’s only a tiny number of them and they will retire shortly anyway. Rubbish! About 25% of current CFPs were grandfathered, and many of these people are still 20-30 years away from retirement. It is the FPA’s dirty little secret that actually isn’t so secret. It’s why CFPs won’t get an exemption from the financial adviser exam, even though 75% of those CFPs had to complete a much harder exam when they got their CFP legitimately.
The FPA are reactionary sheep and are not the leaders we want them to be. Some double standards here, CBA goes through an enquiry and Senior Management of the CBA”s solution is to enforce membership of a professional association, which the FPA openly encourage. No sanctions, no expulsions nothing more than welcoming come one come all with open arms. Forget that the Senior staff of the CBA tarnished the reputation of all planners by passing the blame and targeting individuals. This moves highlights how weak they are, as there doing this only now because they feel they have a little more power with members joining due to getting TASA exemptions and Opt in etc etc, when perhaps they should of taken this line 20 years ago. We need real leadership to prevent overregulation and red tape reduction.
that makes two of us. I cancelled my FPA membership a few years ago. Why are they persecuting advisers when there are broader systemic issues at play! cover up no doubt. You can’t keep blaming advisers when the system is rigged. Is ASIC going to cancel CFP AFSL? or suspend it?
What about all the old CFP holders that had there assignment done by their Paraplanners?
Will this be looked at…
What about the FPA and their alignment and or support by the major instituions. Whose behavior is much worse the either of the above. Will the FPA comment on this.
Seems like the FPA once again persecuting planners and remaining quiet on Institutions…
I wear not being a member of the FPA as a badge of honor.
The FPA standing in terms of professionalism is questionable as they do not appear to do very much for the membership, encourage division with other professional bodies, pander to the institutions and skew exams for profit before knowledge at every turn. This is the same crowd that when Bloch was in the CEO role recorded a $2 Million loss. Bunch of self protected stuck up ignorant derelict fools. There are many who would cancel membership in a heart beat but hey they use questionable methods to force membership via TASA Banks and Insurers. Could not care less for their members. So Dante, what of the members PRE 2006 and THEIR CFP….should that be looked at. Answer this question posed. Me thinks not.