Former Trio Capital director John Godfrey has likened his stint at the helm of the failed company to walking into a car crash after accepting Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) censure.
Godfrey was a non-executive director of Trio from February 2005 until June 2007 and chairman of the board from June 2005 to February 2007.
He is the sixth Trio director to give an enforceable undertaking to APRA. His is also the first enforceable undertaking accepted by APRA from an individual who left the Trio board prior to its collapse in 2009.
Godfrey told PPO he felt “conflicted” by the regulator’s decision but acknowledged APRA’s concerns that he failed to carry out his duties properly as a director of a superannuation trustee.
“Certainly things could have been done differently,” he said. “I felt as chairman that I had established the correct structures but history has shown otherwise.”
Trio was formerly the licensed trustee of five registered superannuation entities as well as the responsible entity of a managed investment scheme known as the Astarra Strategic Fund (the ASF), a fund of hedge funds.
Godfrey has undertaken not to act as a trustee or as a responsible officer of a body corporate that is a trustee, investment manager or custodian of an APRA-regulated superannuation entity without obtaining APRA’s prior written consent.
He currently has no intention to request the regulator’s consent to return to a senior role in the superannuation industry.
While Godfrey is adopting a wait-and-see approach with regard to Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms, he feels it is unlikely that any new legislation would have prevented Trio’s collapse.
However, with the benefit of hindsight, he accepts that he should have acted differently in relation to APRA’s concerns, and regrets the consequences that arose.
APRA deputy chairman Ross Jones said the acceptance of the enforceable undertaking was an appropriate resolution of the matters between Godfrey and APRA.
“APRA’s investigation in relation to Trio is continuing. APRA intends to take action against any former Trio directors who had left the Trio Board before its collapse in late 2009, who have failed to meet the high standards expected of them as superannuation trustee directors and have not acted in the best interests of members,” he said.
