ASX-listed licensee owner Fiducian Group has been given a speeding ticket by the exchange following a share price drop after the group didn’t disclose increased superannuation license conditions to the market.
Fiducian’s share price dropped from $9.84 at market open on Thursday to $8.20 at 3.30pm when a trading halt was initiated by the company.
The ASX queried whether Fiducian is holding any information back from the market that caused the share price drop or whether it was an oversight to not disclose to shareholders that APRA added registrable superannuation entity (RSE) license conditions to the super fund trustee.
In response, Fiducian said the release will not have any material impact on future earnings capabilities that would require additional disclosure.
“We considered APRA’s announcement but as the matters giving rise to the media release related to licence conditions of the RSE licensee subsidiary and did not impact Fiducian’s ongoing operations, whether at a subsidiary or a group level, we did not consider APRA’s media release to be a matter that would impact the share price,” the group said.
“We note that when any previous additional licence condition was issued, no adverse price movement was noticed and we issue a public announcement in the media. We expected the same outcome in the present circumstances.”
The group told investors on Monday that its subsidiary, Fiducian Investment Management Services, agreed to pay a $7.3 million fine and up to $650,000 of ASIC’s legal costs over allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct about a now-closed ESG fund.
“We can confirm that FIMS has entered into a heads of agreement with ASIC to resolve these proceedings,” the company told investors.
However, ASIC said that a statement of agreed facts and admissions has not yet been finalised between the parties nor filed with the Supreme Court of NSW, and the parties have not yet sought court approval on proposed penalties or cost orders.
Governance reviews
APRA’s additional license conditions mean Fiducian must refrain from onboarding certain new high-risk investment options to its platform until an independent expert confirms the option has gone through an adequate onboarding process and an accountable person attests that all reasonable steps were taken to ensure the option is in members’ best financial interests.
Furthermore, the prudential regulator flagged other concerns about the management of conflicts of interest, particularly due to related-party service providers that have investment options on the platform, and the effectiveness of its board and board committees which will also be reviewed.
The additional licensee conditions follows APRA’s thematic review of platform investment governance last year, launched in the wake of the $1 billion Shield and First Guardian collapse, which has seen licensee conditions added to Netwealth, Equity Trustees and Diversa Trustees.
Fiducian is trustee of the Fiducian Superannuation Fund and has approximately 9779 member accounts and over $3.1 billion in funds under management.
