Banking royal commission: Financial advisers hit back at allegations

The Australian 12:00am May 12, 2018

Ben Butler

Financial advisers criticised for providing shoddy advice or failing to act in the interests of clients during the banking royal commission have hit back in submissions to the inquiry.

Former Westpac planner Andrew Smith, former ANZ planner John Doyle, celebrity adviser Sam Henderson and Dover boss Terry McMaster — who collapsed in the witness stand while giving evidence to the inquiry — deny most of the allegations made against them during hearings last month.

Mr Henderson’s advice shop, Henderson Maxwell, hit back at suggestions by counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr QC, that it had committed a crime by telling investors he possessed a qualification he did not and by failing to declare his shareholding in a company that administered funds he recommended to clients.

His behaviour in giving advice to Fair Work Commission member Donna McKay that if taken up would have immediately cost her $500,000 did not even fall below community standards, his lawyers, Andrew Woods and Claire Wivell Plater, said in Henderson Maxwell’s submission.

Nor should Henderson Maxwell be held responsible for the ­actions of a staff member who six times impersonated Ms McKay in phone calls to her super fund.

“The available criticism against Henderson Maxwell is in reality only the failure to terminate the employee — an outcome on which reasonable minds can differ,” Mr Woods and Ms Wivell Plater said. “It does not fall short of community expectations.”

Dover’s lawyer, Tyson Wodak, said the company admitted that an Orwellian “Client Protection Policy” that purported to disclaim liability for bad advice, in force until the corporate regulator complained about it in March, was misleading and deceptive, but said it had received no complaints ­relating to it.

Mr Wodak defended Dover’s habit of appointing advisers before reference checks were complete, saying this was “necessary to ensure continuity of advice”.

And he attacked Westpac, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank for not providing reference checks in a timely fashion following requests from Dover.

Lawyers for Mr Smith, whose clients have received $1.2 million in remediation from Westpac, pointed to “accolades for his services as a financial planner” that included being named planner of the year by Westpac subsidiary St George for three years running.

“Some might say this exposes only too well the inadequacy of the checks and balances within the financial services sector,” the lawyers said.

They said their client “does not suggest for a moment that he is without fault” but “does not accept many of the serious allegations made against him”. Some of the advice for which he was blamed at the commission was other people’s fault and there had been no complaints against him since he moved to Dover in 2015, they said.

“A comprehensive analysis of all the allegations brought against Andrew Smith would clearly demonstrate that he is no ‘villain’ and that the awards and accolades he received were all truly deserved.”

Mr Doyle “strenuously denies the allegations that he has in any way contravened the (Corporations) Act or any other law,” his counsel, Laura Keily, said.

She said it “would be denial of procedural fairness and natural justice for any finding of breach to be made against Mr Doyle in his absence, without giving him a proper hearing and without considering the evidence that he has given about these matters”.