DeVere faces down bad practice claims

One of the biggest financial advisory firms to expatriates in Hong Kong, controlling US$9 billion in assets worldwide, is facing down accusations of mis-selling and bad practice from former clients and employees, an investigation by the South China Morning Post has revealed.

DeVere, which describes itself as the world's biggest financial consultancy, has been disciplined seven times by its regulator in the past eight years for breaches of industry rules.

Documents seen by the Post reveal that the Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers (CIB) has handled a complaint this year by a Hong Kong doctor after she was advised by deVere representative Charlie Reeves to consolidate premiums paid to two investment-linked insurance plans sold by Generali, called Vision. The consolidation resulted in extra fees and charges for both plans.

The core complaint was that Reeves was "churning", or encouraging a client to sign a new agreement for the sake of generating a selling commission, but the more damning accusation was that Reeves did not hold a CIB licence.

The doctor's case has echoes in a number of others disclosed to the Post, which broadly allege that deVere has breached regulations by employing unlicensed advisers to sell insurance products and engaging in aggressive sales tactics to secure big commissions at the expense of client interests.

As deVere is licensed by the CIB, all its staff who advise on or arrange insurance products must be authorised by the CIB.