ASIC alleges – and CommSec and AUSIEX have admitted – that they failed to do all things necessary to ensure that the financial services covered by their licences were provided efficiently, honestly and fairly due to failures in their systems, processes and people.
“ASIC alleges the conduct spanned a significant period of time and involved failures across multiple systems and business areas. CommSec and AUSIEX submitted over 60 notifications to ASIC relating to the conduct,” ASIC said.
ASIC alleges that CommSec overcharged brokerage fees to customers, while it and AUSIEX failed to comply with client money reconciliation requirements, failed to comply with their best execution policies and procedures, and did not provide accurate confirmations to customers for certain market transactions.
“CommSec and AUSIEX have co-operated with ASIC’s investigation and entered into a Statement of Agreed Facts and Contraventions (SOAFAC),” ASIC said.
“CommSec and AUSIEX have also agreed to enter into a compliance programme requiring a review by an independent expert of remediation relating to the conduct, as well as a review of all systems and controls which relate to the financial services provided by CommSec and AUSIEX under their respective AFS licences.”
ASIC is seeking declarations of contraventions, pecuniary penalties and other orders against CommSec and AUSIEX.
