Statement on Macquarie Equities financial advice woes

The Australian Greens Spokesperson for Competition Policy, Small Business and Consumer Affairs, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson provides the following statement about Macquarie Equities Limited (MEL) writing to its clients about potential redress for flawed financial advice provided by Macquarie Private Wealth (MPW).

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Whilst it is a positive move for consumers that Macquarie Equities is putting in a place a system to provide redress for flawed financial advice, the scale of this contagion highlights the unresolved systemic failures.

“Macquarie Equities has committed to write to 160,000 of its clients so they can raise concerns about the quality of the advice they received. This is a move that even the Commonwealth Bank are yet to take and should reflect upon.

“The Government needs to respond to the Senate Inquiry, call a Royal Commission immediately, and give consideration to widening the terms of reference beyond the Commonwealth Bank.

 “We have a crisis of confidence in financial advice in this country. People should be seeking good advice on how to manage their money and they should be able to trust their advisers. But the Government’s failure to act is casting doubt upon the whole sector.

“The Senate needs to act and disallow the Government's Future or Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms. Consumers need to be confident that they can seek independent financial advice where the adviser is clearly acting only in the interest of the client,” he concluded.

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