FINANCIAL PLANNERS – FEES – AUSTRALIA

‘Flawed but not illegal’: NAB digs in over fees for no service

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 26-Feb-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s case against National Australia Bank over claims that it charged customers for services that were not provided is due to go to court in May. NAB has conceded that it did the wrong thing in regard to customers who were not linked to a financial adviser, but the bank has rejected claims that it was in the wrong in instances where the customer was linked to a financial planner. It appears to be arguing that making advice available to this second group of customers justified the charging of a fee.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, MLC LIMITED

Big four in fees probe

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 17-Oct-18

The four major banks will be a key focus of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s investigation into breaches of financial planning fee disclosure requirements under the Future of Financial Advice reforms. It is uncertain as to whether wealth manager AMP will also come under scrutiny by ASIC, which recently advised that it had received a "substantial" number of breach notices from various industry players.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED, FINANCIAL WISDOM LIMITED, COUNT FINANCIAL LIMITED, COMMINSURE, RI ADVICE GROUP PTY LTD, MILLENNIUM 3 PTY LTD, IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, ANZ FINANCIAL PLANNING

NAB withheld size of fee scandal from ASIC for 11 months

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Original article by Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 22-Aug-18

Australian financial services providers could be forced to repay clients more than $1bn over the fee-for-no-service scandal. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s deputy chairman Peter Kell has told the banking royal commission that just $260m has been refunded to date. Meanwhile, National Australia Bank informed ASIC in early November 2016 that clients affected by the scandal were owed $34.6m, but ASIC contends that NAB was aware of the extent of these liabilities some 11 months earlier. ASIC’s first report on the scandal had estimated that NAB owed just $12m.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP

NAB fee grab slammed by the watchdog

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 17 & 22 : 16-Aug-18

Documents released by the banking royal commission show that the Australian Securities & Investments Commission has criticised National Australia Bank over its lack of action in addressing the fee-for-no-service scandal. ASIC wrote to NAB in May to express its dissatisfaction with the bank’s proposed remedial action, stating that it did not constitute an "acceptable resolution" to the regulator’s concerns. ASIC has accused NAB of a range of civil and criminal offences.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, NULIS NOMINEES AUSTRALIA LIMITED

NAB hid compo from ASIC

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Original article by Ben Butler, Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 17 & 21 : 14-Aug-18

National Australia Bank’s Andrew Hagger has denied allegations that it withheld information on compensation payments from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. He told the banking royal commission that he had been "open and transparent" with ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer in a telephone conversation on 24 October 2016, several hours after NAB’s wealth unit passed a resolution to increase compensation over its plan service fee. NAB released its financial results three days later, the same day on which ASIC released a report on the fees-for-no-service scandal.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, NATIONAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED, NULIS NOMINEES AUSTRALIA LIMITED

NAB placed on criminal charge alert

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Original article by Ben Butler, Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 9-Aug-18

The "fee for no service" scandal has deepened, with the banking royal commission being told that National Australia Bank had charged more than 4,000 clients some $3m in fees after they had died. Nicole Smith, the chair of NAB’s superannuation trustee, confirmed that it had been charging dead people an adviser fee as recently as June. She said NAB looked into the issue earlier in 2018 after the inquiry heard that the Commonwealth Bank had been collecting fees from deceased customers. The inquiry was also told that NAB’s conduct could potentially incur criminal charges.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Banks to stick with advice charges

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Original article by Anthony Klan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 29-Jun-18

Westpac-owned BT recently stated that it will abolish so-called "grandfathered" advice charges for customers with legacy investment products. AMP, National Australia Bank, ANZ, and the Commonwealth Bank have indicated that they will still impose the charges. The Productivity Commission noted in a recent report that around 630,000 superannuation accounts are subject to trailing commissions, with such charges having a detrimental impact on their balances.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Commonwealth Bank admits it broke law over fees

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Original article by Sarah Danckert, Clancy Yeates
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 3 : 11-May-18

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has issued a statement acknowledging that its financial planners had breached the Corporations Act by charging fees for services that were not provided. However, the bank has rejected several of the open findings of the senior counsel assisting the banking royal commission with regard to its financial planning division. Meanwhile, Westpac has rejected all of the open findings of the royal commission regarding its financial planning business.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COUNT FINANCIAL LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH FINANCIAL PLANNING LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, RI ADVICE GROUP PTY LTD, M3 FINANCIAL, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, DOVER FINANCIAL ADVISERS PTY LTD

CBA charges dead customers for advice

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Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 20-Apr-18

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has apologised to the families of deceased customers who had continued to be charged fees for financial advice after their death. The banking royal commission has been told that four deceased customers of CBA subsidiary Count Financial had been charged fees, in one case for more than 10 years after their death. The inquiry has also been told that CBA had been made aware of a fees-for-no-service scandal at Count Financial in November 2012, but it did not inform ASIC until 2014.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, COUNT FINANCIAL LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Banks charged customers $180m for no financial advice

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 28-Oct-16

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has released a report on the dubious practices of financial advisers aligned with the "big four" banks and AMP. ASIC found that many customers had been charged for financial advice between August 2013 and December 2015, but they did not receive any such advice. ASIC noted that most of these cases occurred prior to the implementation of the Future of Financial Advice reforms. It is estimated that about 200,000 customers will be entitled to total compensation of some $A178m.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION