AAAFI liquidator seeks court intervention

A spokesperson for the appointed liquidator, Lawler Partners, told ifa yesterday that applications will be made to the NSW Supreme Court in order to provide advice on how to distribute the former dealer group’s remaining assets.

"As there are insufficient funds available to pay advisers in full we are in the process of making an Application to the Court to seek directions on how the Commission Accounts should be distributed,” the spokesperson said. “Further correspondence will be issued to Advisers in due course to provide an update.”

However, the spokesperson also said the liquidator was still in the process of “recovering adviser debt/clawback commissions that advisers have failed to pay”.

A number of former authorised representatives have told ifa they have been contacted by external debt collectors over past months.

Following the cancellation of AAAFI’s licence in January and subsequent move into administration, ifa reported in July that former authorised representatives would be unlikely to receive outstanding financial product and brokerage commissions owed to them by the licensee.

Liquidator Bradley Tonks of Lawler Partners told ifa the total value of adviser commissions owed greatly exceeded the funds held by the collapsed entity.

“We currently hold around $170,000 in funds, so if there is $500,000 in claims then obviously we will be in a position where we will have to adjudicate those claims,” he said.

“We do hold funds – albeit limited – and we hope to be in a position to make distributions in the near future,” he said.

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