ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licences of four insurance brokerages and suspended the licence of another after they failed to lodge audited annual statements.

The regulator cancelled the AFS licences of Benchmark Holdings Pty Ltd, Citywide Investment Services Pty Ltd, Mariner Insurance Pty Ltd and Graeme Bartlett & Associates Pty Ltd. It suspended the licence of Southpoint Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd.

In total, it cancelled the licences of eight licensees operating in the financial advice industry that had failed to lodge audited annual statements, after reviewing the conduct of a total of 72 licensees.

In addition to the cancellations, ASIC suspended a total of two AFS licences for failure to lodge audited annual statements, achieved voluntary compliance from 38 AFS licensees who have lodged all outstanding documents, and prompted 17 entities to voluntarily cancel their AFS licences as they are no longer operating a financial services business.

A further seven licensees face possible suspension or cancellation for failing to lodge audited annual statements.

Deputy chairman of ASIC, Peter Kell, said: “In our experience, failure to comply with reporting obligations is often an indicator of a poor compliance culture. ASIC will take action against licensees that fail to lodge these statements.”