The financial regulator in Australia says it is acting to deal with "deficient" advice on complex financial products.

Australia’s financial watchdog says almost 1,000 individuals advised about complex wealth management products will have their cases reviewed in a process that has led to 10 firms being required to overhaul their business practices.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said 10 licensed firms have undertaken corrective action. The firms are Consultum Financial Advisers Ltd; Count Financial Ltd; FSS Advisory Pty Ltd; Genesys Wealth Advisers Ltd; HSBC Bank Australia Ltd; Madison Financial Group; MASU Financial Management Pty Ltd; Meritum Financial Group Pty Ltd; Sentry Financial Services Pty Ltd, and Westpac Banking Corporation.

At the end of 2013, ASIC reported on retail structured products, focusing particularly on so-called “capital-protected” or “capital-guaranteed” products. It found that their complex nature meant that some consumers did not understand what was being protected. “Too often advisors promoting these products were not adequately considering the consumer's needs and circumstances,” the regulator said in a statement yesterday.

The Australian regulator has been cracking down on what it believes might be unclear or unsuitable advice around investments, a trend seen in other jurisdictions, such as the UK.

ASIC’s report identified a range of conduct and disclosure concerns and set out that it would be taking follow up action with licensees involved in the review. Since then, firms concerned have started a wider review of relevant advisors and clients to see if disclosure or conduct requirements had been breached, and how far those breaches went, and whether remedial action needed to be taken.

“Almost 1,000 clients who received advice will either have their files reviewed, or be contacted by the licensee to offer a review,” ASIC said.