Christchurch FAP cops criticism from the FMA

Go Financial Solutions is a Christchurch-based FAP advising on health, life and business insurance and mortgage lending. Its primary clientele is the Filipino community, including non-residents on working visas, according to the FMA.

During a monitoring review this year, the regulator found that Go Financial Solutions had inadequate record keeping, didn’t gather sufficient information about a client’s circumstances, couldn’t prove that its recommendations were suitable, didn’t ensure clients understood the advice they received and failed to exercise care, diligence and skill when providing financial advice.

In particular, the FMA saw instances where advisers failed to make reasonable enquiries or take into consideration clients’ medical circumstances when advising them about acquiring or replacing their life policy.

There were also occasions where a more detailed rationale was needed to support adviser recommendations to clients to sign up with a particular provider, or to switch providers. In the absence of this reasoning, the FMA says Go Financial Solutions failed to assess or review recommendations to a reasonable level.