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IAG settles $2.8bn lawsuit with Credit Suisse
IAG announced it has settled the lawsuit with Credit Suisse relating to the collapse of Greensill Capital.
VBP names inaugural chief growth officer
Financial planning outsourcing specialist Vital Business Partners (VBP) has created a new executive role focused on expanding advice relationships, winning new clients and strengthening its offering to advice businesses and licensees.
Former BW Equities employee charged for misappropriating funds
A former employee of the Victorian boutique advice business has been arrested and charged for allegedly trading client's shares without consent that generated close to $500,000 for himself.
Super funds risk market concentration in US: Research
While Australian equity markets have always had a concentration problem, it is now becoming more prominent in global markets too, according to Scientific Beta.
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When geopolitics becomes a portfolio risk
Geopolitics is back - again - and Australian investors can no longer treat it as distant background noise.
Does association membership still matter?
With all the changes the advice sector has experienced in recent years, such as regulatory reform and increased education and professional standards ...
Digital assets and where they stand in 2026
So far in 2026 digital assets have captured the headlines largely for the wrong reasons, but that doesn't tell the full story.
Rethinking default design in a changing market environment
The evolution underway in the US DC system highlights the value of periodically reassessing default design assumptions.
Featured Profile
Rachel Alembakis
STEWARDSHIP MANAGER
UNITING ETHICAL INVESTORS LIMITED
UNITING ETHICAL INVESTORS LIMITED
As a highly respected journalist, Rachel Alembakis helped push sustainable investing on the agenda long before it was mainstream. Now, she's stepped into the arena to shape the industry from within. Karren Vergara writes.
The Financial Standard podcast Tune in each week as we discuss the latest developments in Australia's wealth management industry. |  |
The merger does not magically create an independent group. It is just not owned by one of the big four banks.
In many ways these mergers create even more problems for the consumer as CEO's can talk about "maintaining independence" and "letting the adviser flourish", under a banner that looks no different to the genuine intermediaries.
And mergers and acquisition firms who are not sure if a firm is independent or not perhaps should not comment at all. No good for the reputation showing that lack of knowledge
Would love to see ASIC comment on the statements made by this group
In my view, independent advice is not what SFG currently offer anyway. The advisers within this group have very little flexibility at all and are almost forced to use their own in-house products. If anything there is less independence in this group than is offered by the big 4.