ANZ today confirmed it will be reimbursing some Prime Access clients after it identified the documented annual review, part of a package of services, had not been provided. Prime Access is a fee-for-service package introduced in 2003 and includes priority access to financial planners, investment monitoring alerts and a documented annual review.
In accordance with its obligations under the Corporations Act, ANZ reported the issue to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and commenced a remediation program supported by external consultants PwC and law firm Clayton Utz.
ANZ estimates the cost of reimbursing around 8,500 clients who did not receive a documented annual review to be approximately $30 million.
ANZ is working with ASIC to finalise the refund methodology and payments will commence as soon as the methodology is agreed. ANZ CEO Global Wealth Joyce Phillips said: “We sincerely apologise to our clients for not delivering all of the Prime Access services we promised and we will reimburse affected clients as soon as possible”.
Another example of issues in the troubled financial planning and advice sector in Australia, and demonstrating the need for more reform to rebuild trust. Today ASIC announced that it was investigating new instances of licensees charging clients for financial advice, including annual advice reviews, where the advice was not provided. Most of the fees have been charged as part of a client’s service agreement with their financial adviser.
