Financial Advice Firm Impersonated Client To Her Super Fund, Banking Royal Commission Hears - FOW 24 NEWS

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Financial Advice Firm Impersonated Client To Her Super Fund, Banking Royal Commission Hears

A public servant was impersonated while receiving financial advice from a high-profile financial planner, the banking royal commission has heard.

Donna McKenna, who is a Fair Work commissioner, told the inquiry she went to firm Henderson Maxwell after seeing its chief executive Sam Henderson in the media.

Ms McKenna said if she had followed the advice Mr Henderson gave her, she would have lost $500,000.

Mr Henderson followed Ms McKenna in the witness stand.

The financial planner is a regular media personality, with a show on Sky News Business channel and articles published in the Australian Financial Review and Money Magazine.

Mr Henderson's appearance before the commission did not get off to a good start, when it was revealed he does not have a Master of Commerce degree, as stated in a 2016 financial services guide from the firm.

The hearing was then played a damning recording of a Henderson Maxwell employee impersonating Ms McKenna in several phone calls to her super fund.

In the recordings, the employee can be heard giving Ms McKenna's membership number and the State Authorities Superannuation Scheme (SASS) representative refers to her as Donna. 


Mr Henderson said he could not recall if he spoke to the staff member during that time.

"Potentially, but I can't answer with any certainty," he said.

"I can say though, for the record, that I was not aware of the impersonation, I was quite disappointed … it was inexcusable."

The inquiry heard up to six phone calls were made to the SASS super fund by Henderson Maxwell's customer service officer.

Mr Henderson said the information his employee had provided him about Ms McKenna's account was inconsistent with the information given to him by Ms McKenna.

Mr Henderson refunded Ms McKenna the nearly $5,000 in upfront advice fees she had paid.

The customer service officer who impersonated Ms McKenna was not fired.


'All but threw the advice in the bin at that stage'

Earlier, Ms McKenna gave evidence that she emphatically told Mr Henderson she was not interested in starting a self-managed superannuation fund during an initial meeting but he pressed the issue.


"I was almost laughing at him at this stage," Ms McKenna said.

"I said words to the effect, 'Oh look Sam, if there's some secret financial planners' business about having an [SMSF], you can put it in your advice'."

Ms McKenna's retirement savings were held in two public service super accounts.

When Mr Henderson presented Ms McKenna with a financial advice statement just over a month later, the recommendations revolved around opening an SMSF and moving money into Henderson Maxwell managed funds.

If Ms McKenna had followed the advice and transferred the funds to the SMSF, she would have forfeited $500,000 in a deferred retirement benefit payment from SASS.

Ms McKenna described the advice as "risible".

"My initial skim reading of the statement of advice suggest it was so poor, that all but threw the advice in the bin at that stage," she said.
Financial Advice Firm Impersonated Client To Her Super Fund, Banking Royal Commission Hears Reviewed by FOW 24 News on April 24, 2018 Rating: 5 A public servant was impersonated while receiving financial advice from a high-profile financial planner, the banking royal commission has...

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