Compliance is back in the spotlight at Macquarie Private Wealth.
Four years after ASIC cracked down on Macquarie and compliance deficiencies in its private wealth unit, Street Talk understands the issue has raised its head in the bank's Adelaide office.
Sources said that two key advisers, Mark Landau and Marcus Campbell from Macquarie Private Wealth Adelaide, have left because of a compliance breach.
It is understood the pair who were senior advisers and instrumental in taking JBWere's Adelaide advising group across to Macquarie in 2007, were let go on Friday for failing an internal compliance review.
The offending action was believed to include misclassifying the nature of some advice to clients.
A Macquarie spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by Street Talk on Monday, saying "we do not comment on employee matters".
Landau and Campbell could not be reached for comment.
It's understood the pair was a big revenue writer in Macquarie's Adelaide team, writing more than $2 million a year in commission.
Sources said it was surprising the pair failed the review, given Macquarie's strict compliance overhaul in its private wealth unit as part of the enforceable undertaking agreed in 2013.
The overhaul was designed to change the organisation's culture, its systems and processes so that its clients were receiving appropriate advice.
ASIC slapped an enforceable undertaking on Macquarie in 2013. The group faced accusations of misclassification of clients, sloppy paperwork and rampant cheating on continuous professional development exams.
In February 2015, ASIC said Macquarie had met the EU requirements but would need to conduct a "program of further work" over the next 12 months, to ensure the changes put in place under the undertaking were sustainable.
Elsewhere, sandalwood grower Quintis will enlighten shareholders as soon as Tuesday on its current situation, ending the information vacuum that started with its extended voluntary suspension last month.
Two potential transactions are on the table, one of which is linked to its Goldman Sachs-advised founder Frank Wilson whose determination to pursue a proposal "as soon as practicable" in March was arguably premature.
Perhaps more importantly for the doubters (of which there are many) the company will provide a cash position as of May 31. It is currently harvesting mature trees and undertaking planting of new ones.
The weeks of suspension has not helped restore confidence in the former TFS after its hostile and ultimately accurate targeting by short sellers.
Quintis' disclosure could not come at a better time: it is the start of the most crucial month of the year for the company in terms of income from plantation sales on which it is still reliant.
