Fresh solution to liability gaps needed

Financial Services Complaints Limited chief executive Susan Taylor said the number of complaints to the scheme from clients of former DRS members was trending up, as more advisors retired, sold their business or merged with other providers and their advice was no longer covered by their DRS.

“We had one case earlier this year, the complainant’s son, who lived in Australia, had fallen very ill, and they had thought that they had insurance that would cover all of his medical costs in Australia, but found out when it came time to start paying the bills that they didn't.”

“And in this case, the adviser had retired from the industry and had sold his book to a new firm.”

Susan Taylor said the advisor’s new company checked back through the advisor’s records and found they had failed to put the insurance policy in place as requested by the client. FSCL helped the family contact the advisor and file a claim against the advisor’s PI insurer, which was later resolved.