The FPA memberships of Storm Financial (Storm) advisers will not be terminated or suspended at this stage despite the financial advisory firm’s collapse late yesterday.
Storm closed its doors yesterday after being placed in voluntary administration on 12 January 2009.
At this stage there are no plans for individual advisers to have their memberships revoked, FPA chief executive Jo-Anne Bloch told InvestorDaily.
“The FPA is not able to terminate or suspend membership whilst an investigation is underway,” she said.
“We have launched an investigation into Storm and it’s our job to determine whether any breaches of our codes and rules have occurred, and if that is the case, then our conduct review commission will be taking appropriate action.
“The investigation started in November 2008 and is progressing and it’s too early at this stage to comment.”
The FPA has also been contacted by a number of Storm’s 14,000 clients, following the association’s provision of a referral service in late December, Bloch said.
“We’ve had hundreds of referrals and we’ve been able to give them objective advice, give them options and direct them to the right people,” she said.
Late yesterday, Storm Financial told the market its appointed administrators, Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants, had instructed them to cease operations.
“As a result of the company ceasing operations it is not in a position to transact further business for clients. However, the administrators hope to be able to introduce alternative financial advisors to clients in the near future,” a statement from Storm said.
“The administrators stress that client information is being kept strictly confidential and will not be released to anyone without the client’s specific authority.”
