The Competition Commission of Singapore is acting against 10 firms for what it says is anti-competitive pressure against the pricing policy of a financial advisor firm.

A Singapore regulator has issued a “proposed infringement decision” against 10 financial advisors for attempts to pressure iFAST Financial Pte to scrap its offer of a 50 per cent commission rebate on life insurance products as sold on the Fundsupermart website.

The Competition Commission of Singapore has issued the infringement decision against the firms, all of which of are members of the Association of Financial Advisers (Singapore).

The firms are Cornerstone Planners Pte; Financial Alliance Pte; First Principal Financial Pte; Frontier Wealth Management Pte; IPP Financial Advisers Pte; JPARA Solutions Pte; Professional Investment Advisory Services Pte; Promiseland Independent Pte; RAY Alliance Financial Advisers Pte and WYNNES Financial Advisers Pte.

iFAST is both a securities dealer and a financial advisor but it wasn’t a member of the AFA at the time of the Fundsupermart offer, the regulator said in a statement. iFAST distributes investment products such as unit trusts through its Fundsupermart.com platform to investors. It also offers investment products through a business-to-business distribution platform that provides administration and transactional services to financial institutions such as financial advisors. The parties’ use of iFAST’s distribution platform collectively contributed significantly to iFAST’s revenues in Singapore, it said.

On 30 April 2013, iFAST launched its Fundsupermart offer, which provided an opportunity for purchasers of life insurance policies to enjoy cost savings from the 50 per cent commission rebate. It withdrew this offer as soon as 3 May of that year, the regulator continued.

The regulator said it has noted media reports about the offer’s withdrawal and had received complaints about the matter. After an investigation, the regulator said it “provisionally finds that there was an agreement during an AFA meeting on 2 May 2013 as well as further coordination among the 10 financial advisory companies to apply pressure on iFAST to withdraw its Fundsupermart offer”.

Under the Competition Act of the Asian jurisdiction, business entities are banned from restricting or preventing competition.
The regulator said its proposed infringement decision is a written notice setting out the facts on which CCS makes its assessment and its reasons for arriving at the proposed decision. The parties have six weeks to make a response. When that process is complete, the regulator makes its decision.