The chairman of AFS Group (AFS) continues to back Peter Daly as chief executive of the dealer group despite urgings from one of the group's longest serving shareholders for his removal.
AFS chairman Barry Stephen told InvestorDaily he supports Daly as the group's leader.
Stephen said he and the board considered the matter of Daly's position at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) last month.
He said his views on the matter remain unchanged from the AGM, stating he and the board continue to support Daly.
Stephen would not make any further comment other than to reiterate his speech from the AGM.
"The year under report has been an extremely demanding one for your company," Stephen said at the time.
"Management and staff are to be congratulated on maintaining their focus whilst we dealt with what at times seemed an interminable queue of prospective purchasers. Peter Daly in particular, and the other senior managers, have shouldered an immense work load. On your behalf, I thank them all."
When asked whether he was concerned by calls from Peter Conacher, a founding AFS shareholder and ex-company board director for Daly's removal, Stephen said he was not.
"At a practical [level] no, at a theoretical level there is always that. The shareholders at the AGM accepted the board's view," he said.
Meanwhile, speculation has increased that AFS could be the next Australian financial services licensee to face an enforceable undertaking (EU).
However Stephen was quick to reject such suggestions.
He said the discussions he'd had with ASIC around six weeks ago had been over licence conditions with no suggestions of an EU.
"[There was] no suggestion then of an enforceable undertaking," he said.
Earlier this month, ASIC imposed additional licence conditions on AFS following a six-month surveillance.
The surveillance included a review of client files to examine the appropriateness of advice given and looked at the management of conflicts of interest and complaints handling.
In October, the Commonwealth Financial Planning entered into an EU with ASIC over concerns regarding a former authorised representative.
