Former Perth-based financial adviser David Michael Fong and his company Fong Financial Planners face serious consequences if found guilty of dishonest conduct.
In a notice issued on Monday (22 November), ASIC alleges that in 2014, while an authorised representative of AMP, Mr Fong via Fong Financial Planners acted dishonestly when he completed and submitted false information in clients’ insurance applications; failed to adequately disclose fees to clients; acted without client instructions; and failed to adequately disclose the effect of advice, for instance clients becoming uninsured after closing their superannuation accounts.
Mr Fong appeared before the Perth Magistrates Court on 19 November 2021 and was granted conditional bail.
If found guilty, Mr Fong faces a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine of either $765,000 or three times the total value of the benefits reasonably attributable to the offence, or both. His company stands to lose $7,650,000 or three times the total value of the benefits reasonably attributable to the offence, or 10 per cent of turnover in the 12-month period ending at the end of the month in which the offence was committed.
Mr Fong was previously banned from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities, permanently. He later appealed ASIC’s decision to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, but the appeal process has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
My AMP/Resolution life super and insurance file was handed over to Fong financial planners after my other financial planner closed a few years ago. I only just found out about what happened to this company not long ago. Does anyone know who all their files were handed to? I need to get my original policy information and would like to know if my policy was tampered with and any dodgy dealings on my file.
He was being used as the benchmark of what can be done in a business to be successful. MMMMMM AMP certainly are very much short sighted
Hilarious. At the time Mr Fong was providing advice, AMP were holding him up as a poster boy for how to run your business. They audited him regularly, and knew exactly what he was doing and how. Yet not one of those in the institution have been held personally culpable.
Whilst this adviser is a crook, AMP was not even fined $1 and yet the AMP adviser is being fined three times the damage. What will ASIC have to pay for the damage they’ve done to Australians because they killed off Advice with bad legislation?
I question how any adviser with a permanent ban, stayed or not, could be permitted to continue providing advice, given the nature of alleged breaches are very significant? Surely their internal auditing process would have recommended he cease all advice activities until the matter had been formally resolved.
AMP had barely audited any advisers since 2018 as they ramped up their focus on culling businesses through BOLR and similar type schemes for those in the Charter/Hillross stables. They have subsequently culled most of their monitoring and supervision staff and have a bunch of underpaid, underqualified and inexperienced ‘analysts’ at PwC doing their auditing using a tickbox style audit. Poor conduct at AMP will just be so much easier to engage in now – but they culled headcount so I am sure it will be big bonuses for all the geniuses in upper management!!
Wow just wow, not saying Mr Fong didn’t do wrong.
But wholly smoke, this little Advisers sins pail into such small significance compared to the grand scale FFNS theft of billions over seen by the AMP management, CEO’s & board.
This is the perfect example of Advisers being killed for any breach.
And NOT ONE MAMAGER, CEO, OR BOARD MEMBER has seen any fines, bans, court appearances, etc.
What a disgusting set of double standards from ASIC. Absolutely disgusting !!!!
‘Perfect example of advisers being killed for any breach’ – it wasn’t just one breach it was a history of poor advice that included LYING on insurance applications and not disclosing lost insurance. Having seen what can go wrong when clients don’t have their insurance done correctly and they get denied claims because of poor adviser behaviour – I have ZERO sympathy for Mr Fong. The industry is far better off without these lazy advisers who don’t look after their clients.
Seems like Mr Fong may spend some time paying off these fines. It is disappointing our banks and their executives got off relatively lightly with their breaches.
Looks like the weaponized audits didnt get the right people
LOL, He was making money for AMP and the Exec, it didnt matter if it was done unethical or not.
They sometimes did – but the rationale for the ‘weaponised audits’ was definitely more motivated by AMP’s bottom line as opposed to actual adviser conduct. Funnily enough AMP stopped auditing advisers for the most part as they were ramping up to cull their monitoring and supervision and they now have it done by a bunch of inexperienced box tickers at PwC. I can only imagine how many other David Fongs there are at AMP right now escaping scrutiny so long as they are helping AMP’s bottom line.