Below are the five most read news stories on the ifa website for 2018. These stories have generated the biggest response from the Australian financial advice community over the last 12 months.
Published: 27 July
Reads: 6,766
Linchpin Capital has been consistently on the radar of the corporate regulator for a range of reasons, including running two managed investment schemes without being appropriately licensed to do so, and using investor funds for its own purposes “without disclosing this use to investors”.
Published: 4 April
Reads: 7,072
When the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was established on 14 December 2017 to be led by commissioner Kenneth Hayne, speculation began on how the advice space would be affected. This was confirmed in April, when the royal commission largely named institutional licensees as its targets. As for the sole non-institutional licensee – Dover Financial Group – more on that further down.
Published: 10 May
Reads: 7,488
After the Hayne royal commission’s second round of hearings – which focused purely on financial advice and wealth management – it requested more information from witnesses around some of the more contentious issues, including ‘fees for no service’. Unsurprisingly, ifa readers were drawn to these responses and wanted some answers.
Published: 29 June
Reads: 7,807
If the events of 2018 within the non-institutional advice space could be summed up by only one name, it would be Terry McMaster, director of the now-defunct Dover Financial Group. Earlier in the year, Mr McMaster had drawn mainstream interest when he collapsed on the stand under questioning from the Hayne royal commission’s counsel assisting Rowena Orr and had to be taken out on a stretcher.
Published: 8 June
Reads: 13,530
The ifa exclusive that garnered the interest of not just its core audience – including the 400-plus authorised representatives who could no longer provide advice unless they immediately found a new licensee – but also royal commission counsel assisting Mark Costello, who described elements of Dover’s business model as “Orwellian”.
I’m tipping Dover and Mr McMaster will be the source of more IFA articles in 2019. It could be a case of some well deserved vindication for both… Mainstream media will jump on board when ASICs role in Dover’s shutdown is revealed. A reliable source tells me it may not look good for ASIC.
Good work IFA. The mainstream media need to follow your lead. Keep digging!
#1 and #2….ASIC and the RC’s agenda accomplished. Keep the insto’s in business and remove the main competitor from the industry.
More to come, especially ASIC’s wiliness to cooperate with the banks at every opportunity and frame Dover (and McMaster) in the process.