The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has imposed extra conditions on the Australian financial services licence of the estate planning firm of HNW Planning Pty Ltd.

This follows a round of surveillance by ASIC which found that HNW was not monitoring and supervising its representatives adequately and that its audit processes were deficient.

An initial ASIC surveillance of one of HNW’s authorised representatives led to a broader surveillance of the whole firm. That done, ASIC concluded that HNW did not have adequate monitoring and supervision processes in place to identify non-compliance by its authorised representatives or to ensure that they complied with their 'best interests' duty and related obligations.

ASIC has commanded HNW to hire an independent expert to recommend improvements for its monitoring and supervisory processes. The expert will then test the effectiveness of the improvements that HNW makes and tell the regulator.

HNW Planning Pty Ltd has held AFS licence 225216 since 20 January 2003.