IOOF quells ANZ acquisition concerns

IOOF has issued an update to the ASX about its acquisition on ANZ Wealth in light of revelations of ‘unacceptable’ adviser monitoring at ANZ licensee RI Advice.

The royal commission hearing also examined allegations of ‘fees for no service’ being charged by advisers at the big four banks – an issue that ANZ entered into an EU with ASIC over on 6 April 2018.

The IOOF note to the ASX titled ‘ANZ Wealth Management progress update’ noted the “existence of contractual protections provided to IOOF in respect of certain pre-completion conduct, subject to certain limitations”.

“For example, ANZ has provided various indemnities in favour of IOOF in relation to liability arising from a claim by a client made within five years of completion relating to various types of adviser pre-completion conduct, misconduct and non-compliance,” said IOOF.

IOOF also said “all regulatory hurdles” to the completion of the ANZ Wealth Management acquisition have been “favourably resolved”.

Specifically, the ACCC does not intend to conduct a public review of the acquisition, said IOOF – and “the extension of concessional tax treatment for transferring members has been approved and legislated by Parliament”.

Bell Potter analyst Lafitani Sotiriou has previously warned that IOOF faces significant risk by way of ANZ evidence before the royal commission.