Earlier this year, ASIC launched a crusade against poor
financial advice. ASIC looked at how some of Australia's larger
banking and financial services institutions dealt with conflict of
interest between selling its in-house products and looking after a
client's best interest. These issues were also raised by the
Banking Royal Commission, and have left the larger banking
institutions reconsidering its separate divisions.
What is a conflict of interest?
Firstly, let's address what a conflict of interest is.
Conflicts of interest are circumstances where some or all the
interests of people (clients) to whom a licensee (or
representative) provides financial services are inconsistent with
or diverge from some or all of the interests of the licensee or its
representatives.
