The Big Read: FMA goes after adviser for alleged non-disclosure

Sitting at the Auckland District Court on Monday, the FADC conducted a hearing into the case of an Auckland-based insurance adviser who is alleged to have failed to disclose pre-existing medical conditions on two client applications.

The case was bought by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), but FADC chairman Bruce Robertson has suppressed the name of the adviser and the two clients until a decision on the matter is made.

The FMA’s counsel alleges the adviser breached Code Standard 8 by failing to ensure fulsome disclosure of his clients’ medical history and that this meant he did not provide good, personalised service to them as required under the Code.

While the case was of a “lesser order of seriousness”, it was one that has important consumer protection issues and is significant in the financial advice context, he told the hearing.