How These Migrants Were Threatened By Own Advisors

Integrity Advisers Insurance has had its Financial Advice Provider licence revoked, according to latest immigration news, and it's hard to feel sorry for them. Here’s the deal – they weren’t just a bit naughty with their paperwork or made a couple of minor errors. No, they went full-blown rogue. They pressured clients to keep their policies and threatened to dob them in to Immigration New Zealand if they didn’t pay up. That’s right, a financial services company, in Christchurch of all places, deciding it could play border control.

Now, imagine this – you’re a migrant, trying to settle into a new country, and the very people supposed to help with your financial future are threatening to have you deported if you don't cough up fees they weren't even supposed to charge. And why? Because if you cancelled your policy, they’d lose the commission. It wasn’t enough that they were upfront about the fact they might have to surrender those fees – they took it a step further, demanding more than they were even entitled to.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) did their job – for once, maybe – cancelling their licence and calling out the lack of integrity. Peter Taylor from the FMA summed it up well, saying the firm’s name was a joke. Threatening vulnerable clients with deportation, that's not just unethical, it's predatory.

And here’s the kicker – the company’s director, Yuriy Bazhak, tried to fob it off as invoicing errors and even went as far as doctoring an invoice when the FMA came sniffing around. It’s no wonder the FMA pulled the trigger and shut them down.

So, the FMA has rightly pulled their licence, and let's be honest, that’s the least they could do. Now, provisions are in place for their 500 or so clients, many from the Filipino community, to be looked after by a new provider. At least someone’s showing some integrity around here.