An FPA statement that made public the fact the association sent Infocus Money Management a letter about Storm Financial was disappointing and inappropriate, Infocus head Darren Steinhardt said.
FPA chief executive Jo-Anne Bloch said in a statement e-mailed to InvestorDaily on 10 February: “The FPA has written to Infocus to alert them to the issues relating to Storm and the FPA’s ongoing enquiries and investigations.”
“As a licensee they have an obligation to monitor the conduct of all their representatives.”
Infocus hired five ex-Storm advisers, InvestorDaily reported on 9 February.
Steinhardt said that while he fully supports the FPA in their role as an industry representative body, he was disappointed in the FPA making knowledge of the letter public.
“I can understand that they’re in a delicate situation where they’ve copped a bit of a flack from certain people saying they haven’t been quick enough on the Storm issue or haven’t reacted strongly enough,” Steinhardt said.
“But I don’t think making a public statement that they sent us a letter was appropriate.”
Infocus is committed to meeting its obligations under the Corporations Act 2001, the FPA’s Constitution and the FPA’s Code of Ethics and Rules of Professional Conduct, Steinhardt said.
Infocus is also committed to notifying the FPA immediately if a “notifiable event” as defined by the FPA Constitution should occur.
“The FPA were talking about our monitoring obligations and other confidential matters. Infocus monitors all of our advisers, not just ex-Storm advisers,” Steinhardt said.
Since 9 February, Infocus has turned away more ex-Storm staff asking about employment.
“I am not prepared to take a risk on these people,” Steinhardt said.
The FPA had nothing further to add.
