Advisers fear fraud backlash

A high-profile Nelson adviser jailed for fraud is proof that more rules aren’t the answer to stop crooks, one industry body says.

Friday, December 19th 2014, 10:05AM

by Susan Edmunds

Tony Mount was this week sentenced to six years and nine months prison, after being found guilty of 74 fraud counts.

He ran Independent Financial Consultants in Nelson.

Mount was arrested in September 10. Over a decade, he stole more than $500,000 from 18 complainants by inflating the purchase price of investments bought on their behalf and deflating the sale price of those sold or redeemed.

In a separate civil case, he has been ordered to pay $2.84 million plus interest.

The court is in the process of selling his Nelson house, valued at $830,000 in 2012.

IFA chief executive Fred Dodds said: “It’s just so frustrating it’s taken so long for it to get to this stage. It’s another situation where no matter what sort of rules you’ve got, there are always going to be people who want to rip you off.”

Advisers in Nelson would be frustrated at the perception of a hit to the reputation of financial advice, Dodds said. “Nelson has some really good advisers and I would think they would be wanting to do as much as they can to say ‘that guy is a crook, you can still trust us’.”

Associations and advisers had work to do to get clients to understand the process of advice, he said, and where they should go when they had money to invest.

The IFA is working on a 10-step guide to help consumers find good advice. It covers things such as asking what training and experience the adviser has, how long they have been providing advice, the groups they belong to, their area of specialisation, references, PDS and how an agreement can be terminated.

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