The corporate watchdog has suspended Southpoint Insurance Brokers’ Australian financial services (AFS) licence for six months.
ASIC yesterday announced it had suspended the licence of the Menai-based financial services group until November 2012 as a result of surveillance.
The corporate regulator found the insurance broker had breached its legal obligations and licence conditions in four areas.
The four areas included failing to lodge financial statements and auditors’ reports by the due date, and failing to operate the trust account in accordance with financial services laws.
Southpoint Insurance Brokers also failed to hold a minimum $50,000 in surplus liquid funds when holding client money or property over $100,000 and the firm failed to maintain sufficient base level financial requirements to pay debts when they became due.
“People look to insurance brokers, like other financial service providers, for help in securing services with which they are often unfamiliar, and in doing so place significant trust in those professionals,” ASIC commissioner Peter Kell said.
“Clients should have confidence that such gatekeepers are fully complying with their legal obligations and the conditions of their AFS licence when dealing with their money.”
If the insurance broker remedies the breaches identified by the regulator, the suspension can be revoked.
Southpoint Insurance Brokers has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of the decision.
