The president of an industry body says the recent slew of broker bans brought out by ASIC is not a reflection on members, despite past media hype sullying the industry’s name.
Late last week ASIC announced it had banned former Sydney broker and real estate agent Hyuk Hwang, along with Equity Financial Management head Anthony Bergin as part of what ASIC chairman
Peter Kell said was an ‘unacceptably high number of convictions in recent times.
FBAA CEO Peter White revealed none of the brokers recently prosecuted by ASIC are current
FBAA members and that the association has shown it is willing to act on unethical practices.
“In our view, this proves the importance of being a part of an industry association that sets a high standard and is willing to put the industry and the public first.
“It will become clear to many people that dealing with an FBAA member offers an elevated peace of mind that non-members cannot provide, and we’ll be doing all we can to promote this.”
“It will become clear to many people that dealing with an FBAA member offers an elevated peace of mind that non-members cannot provide, and we’ll be doing all we can to promote this.”
Mr White said the message of the FBAA during 2014 will be the importance to brokers of promoting their membership and the security to the public when dealing with a member.
“There is no doubt that our industry has been tarnished in the past by publicity surrounding ASIC investigations, but we have been able to hold our head high and rise above this knowing that our members have been acting ethically and professionally.
“We expect nothing less.”
MFAA CEO Phil Naylor commented that the
MFAA had previously cancelled the memberships of six of the eight people banned, and that the other two were never members.
