Shares in Australia’s IOOF Fall on Misconduct Reports

Shares in Australian financial services group and fund manager IOOF have fallen sharply in response to a report in the
Australian Financial Review
of alleged misconduct by employees.

The Melbourne-based firm, which oversees about A$154bn (US$120bn) of funds, said in a statement the issues raised had been dealt with appropriately and wouldn’t result in a loss to its 650,000 clients.

“Most of the claims appear to have been promoted by a former employee who is in a legal dispute with the company and are historic in nature,” IOOF said in a statement to the stock exchange. The issues were dealt with through internal and board review and regulators were notified where relevant, the company added.

“To the best of our knowledge and based on reasonable enquiries, none of the issues raised in the article will cause any loss to any IOOF client, past or present.”

The allegations of wrongdoing come at a time when Australia’s banking industry is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into the quality of financial services. Firms including Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Group Ltd. are compensating wealth management customers after giving poor advice.

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