Last week, ifa reported that Aon Hewitt Financial Advice was one of a number of licensees actively targeting Dover authorised representatives in the wake of the shock closure of their licence.
An email co-signed by Aon Hewitt regional client manager John Tenho and partner Jayson Walker and sent to Dover advisers on Saturday 9 June, seen by ifa, said their door is open to the authorised representatives at this difficult time.
“Many of you would naturally feel stressed and anxious about the current circumstances … We want to assure you that we are here to support every professional financial planner needing a new licensee,” the email said.
“If you want to learn more about Aon and our offer then please don’t hesitate to contact us today … If you need a reputable, stable and flexible licensee, contact us.”
However, a number of Dover advisers, speaking to ifa on condition of anonymity, said Aon subsequently rescinded the offer, making clear it would not be onboarding any Dover advisers.
Asked about the alleged change in tune, an Aon spokesperson issued a short statement denying that the organisation had ever made the offer.
“Aon Hewitt Financial Advice made no offers to take on any existing or former advisers of Dover,” the statement said.
“Aon Hewitt Financial Advice is not currently looking to take on any additional advisers under its licence.”
The point-blank denial comes despite the leaked email specifically referring to “our offer”.
The Aon spokesperson did acknowledge the existence of the email, but tried to suggest it was only a communication from the “regional services manager” even though it was co-signed by Mr Walker, who heads the financial advice licensing business at Aon.
The withdrawal of the offer statement in response to ifa’s questions also comes despite the email attempting empathetic language and acknowledging the “stressed and anxious” state of the Dover community.
The revelations follow a licensing offer made by an obscure holding company, Jardin Wealth, and former ASIC and NAB manager Daniel Rake on behalf of two undisclosed licensees this week.
ifa understands that a number of licensees are currently in the process of onboarding Dover authorised representatives.
I have had my AFSL licence for twenty eight years my advers are treated with honest and the willing to work and not treateded like mushrooms I am happy to talk to any advisor who need a new home if you would like to contact me I am not to sure wether I can put my number down we are all members of the a f a you can check me out with them
I’ve heard several comments from advisers saying they don’t want their XYZ licensee taking on “any” Dover advisers. I guess fearing that their licensee will be quizzed by ASIC. Personally, I don’t think that’s the right thing to do and thankfully the response from the licensee was it’s a case by case assessment. As a smaller licensee I was approached by 5 Dover advisers myself. I showed them the communications from ASIC and said this is the process I need to follow but interestingly enough I’ve never heard from them again. What’s this all mean? Probably nothing… The only conclusion I can draw is that ASIC sucks..but also I think it’s time advisers really start taking control of their own destiny.
really, that’s your insightful assessment? that 5 advisers ex dover contacted you and you told them what your process was and none of them contacted you again!
you don’t think there is anything wrong with that? nothing wrong with ASIC,
MANY things WRONG WITH DOVER google some dover advisers they are of VERY LOW QUALITY
hopefully none of them can withstand 2 or 3 months without their commissions and leave the industry and go back to being homeless and sleeping on park benches which is what they were doing before dover authorised them on an interest free 12 months
NO, I don’t want a Dover adviser in my company. low quality, el cheapo. they can go back to what they were doing before. sleeping on park benches and being homeless before senor terry appointed them all.
if you have a masters degree in any discipline, and have 7 years experience as a financial adviser and unencumbered $1m in cash, shares or tangible assets in your business, an unencumbered $2 to $3m principal residence, net $1m in your super fund, are 40 years old, you are welcome to join my company
otherwise back to park bench please. should you really be advising anyone if you have a net worth less than $4m at 40 [u]NO. [/u]
back to the park bench please or with senor Terry. i think his son adrian is a psychologist (failed one) so maybe he can offer you discounted consultation
you losers are ruining my style. I don’t want losers in my company go back to used car sales
As a soon-to-be former Dover AR, I am dissapointed by the poor form of some dealer groups and how they have treated Dover ARs. Add IOOF and Centrepoint to the list above. For all the dealer groups that treated Dover ARs poorly in the most difficult time of our careers – shame on you. We will all have very long memories and will avoid you till eternity. I’m sure once all the dust settles the BDM bloodsuckers will be all knocking on our doors trying to bring us over. I can’t wait to tell you to **** off.
Who would want someone like you in their midst. We are just doing our jobs, so just get over this disrespectful ‘BDM basher” mentality that you seem to have.
Instead of blaming licensees – blame your AR peers in Dover. Dont forget how these ASIC problems emerged.
Dear Anonymous, I’m assuming that you are a well regarded, well-credentialed adviser, who probably has a quite a successful business. What is happening to you might not be fair, but, unfortunately, if you lay down with dogs, you’re going to get fleas. AON, IOOF and Centrepoint all quite understandably protecting their own brands, and their existing ARs from getting tarnished by your choice of bedfellows
I feel for you personally, but I understand the realities of business. My advice is to get your own AFSL.
I daresay the email came out before ASIC issued their warning to AFSL’s about onboarding Dover planners. Fair.
at last. a sensible comment here
Its because Aleks is spearheading the scare campaign. Naming and shaming any licensee for trying to help a bunch of advisers who have been tarnished without good reason because of a spat between ASIC and the licensor. Shame on you.
Talk about shredding any inch of integrity moving forward. How incredibly embarrassing for AON – why not just own it and move forward? Nice spin doctoring AON!
What?! Another large multi-national organisation caught lying? Heavens above! Move on people, there is nothing new to see here…and therein lies the tragedy of our industry. But of course, spend upwards of $100k on a brand new education program for each adviser and Hey presto! brand new moral compass.
I think there’s a big difference between offering support via email and making formal offers to practices, Aleks. Hardly a blatant lie. I think IFA needs to take a breath around everything Dover and scale back the click bait.
Pretty hollow support if they are not “taking any additional advisers”. why write the email, they obviously got scared and ran away. pathetic
If Mr Tenho and Mr Walker have any dignity they would apologise to Dover authorised reps and then do the honorable act of resigning and leaving the industry.
dover management and dover AR should apologize to us the rest of the industry for tarnishing our name
shame on you terry how much money do you need ? you already have millions
they arent under investigation by ASIC, why should they leave the industry?
Perhaps after some due diligence they decided not to. The original email didn’t read like an offer – and there’s plenty of steps involved in considering an adviser joining a licensee. Sounds like sour grapes from some Dover adviser cast aside… However, lets not forget that there’s been ongoing ASIC engagement in that business…
Hang on a sec! So AON send out an email assuring ex Dover advisers that their door is open to Dover reps at this difficult time.
Now the spokesperson from AON is denying any such claim (even though there is evidence of emails).
Now that is a Blatant lie!
Changing your mind and perhaps not wanting to onboard previous Dover advisers with exceptionally poor audit/compliance histories after due diligence – perfectly acceptable!
Let not confuse both scenarios above!
Sceptical,
If Mr John Tenho and Mr Jayson Walker didn’t know that ASIC were investigating Dover prior to sending the email, they either can’t read or were in a coma since before the RC appearance of Terry McMaster waking only to send the email the (former) Dover reps without speaking to anyone or reading anything? Either way it is not a good look for either of them or AON Hewitt.
Due diligence? Shouldn’t this be a standard part of the process of on-boarding a new adviser?
If the two paragraphs in the email in the article are correct, it may not be an offer (it may well be seen as an offer to those who got the email and need a new financial planning licensee in a hurry, when it apparently states ”our offer”), but for the AON Hewitt spokesperson to pretend no email was sent or offer made, makes you wonder about all those involved in sending the email.
During such a delicate and anxious time for many, why would you even send the email unless you knew you were able to 100% back the content of the email?
I agree Mr Tenho and Mr Walker need to publicly apologise and consider their futures industry. It’s a matter of trust.
I agree, it is appalling that Mr John Tenho and Mr Jayson Walker, are taking advantage of those advisers/staff/families/clients affected by this unfortunate news and now with a pretend retracted like it never happened from AON Hewitt means all three are under scrutiny about their integrity and trust. In an industry which needs both of these characteristics more than ever, they either need to back their email or resign and never again seek employment in the financial services sector.
Unfortunately, Mr John Tenho has bravely deleted his linkedin page, but you can still type search for him via google and add on AON Hewitt and get his work phone and email.
Fortunately, Mr Jayson Walker has at this stage is braver and has kept his linkedin page and details are still on the AON Hewitt website.
Hopefully they do the right thing for this industry and apologise publicly and leave the industry forever, though I doubt they have that level of integrity.
Leave the industry?? god…why about CBA and those other goons that ripped off thousands. If any of you know about recruiting,..many have pressure to recruit for their own bonuses etc. They just got excited then the powers that be thought it over following ASIC comms to follow each dover adviser, and they decided they are untouchable. Sure these boys got excited and should get an internal slap (and should apologise to each Dover adviser) but losing their careers over it? get a grip.