If you've searched for Skye and come across a media release about an ASIC infringement notice, you probably have questions. Fair enough. Here's the full story, in plain English, from us.

The short version: in July 2025, Skye Money Pty Ltd, the licensee Skye Wealth operates under, paid a $31,300 infringement notice from ASIC (the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the regulator for financial services) over an adviser registration step that was missed in 2024. The notice related solely to that registration step, not to the advice given, and the adviser was listed on the public Financial Advisers Register the entire time. Our CEO Phil Thompson wrote about it openly at the time, and you can read his full account here: Caught in ASIC's Double-Speak: My $31,300 Lesson.

We'd rather you hear it from us than piece it together from a regulator's media release.

What happened with Skye's ASIC infringement notice?

In April 2024, we brought a new financial adviser into the team. To do that, a licensee registers the adviser on the Financial Advisers Register (the FAR), which is the public record of every person authorised to give financial advice in Australia. We did that. Our adviser was on the FAR from day one.

What was missed was a second, separate registration. New rules that started on 16 February 2024 require every adviser to also be registered with ASIC as a "relevant provider", which is the legal label for someone authorised to give personal advice to everyday clients. Inside ASIC's portal, the role is labelled "Financial Adviser (Relevant Provider)" on one screen, and Phil, who handled the registration himself, believed one registration covered both obligations. It didn't. He's written about how that confusion happened in his LinkedIn article, but the bottom line is simpler than the explanation: the second registration was our responsibility, and we missed it.

When ASIC contacted Phil in mid-2024, the adviser was registered as a relevant provider immediately and the breach was formally reported. We then spent twelve months working with ASIC, handing over every document they asked for. ASIC noted in its media release that it "had regard to these circumstances in deciding its approach". The outcome was an infringement notice of $31,300, which Skye Money paid on 1 July 2025.

Were any Skye clients affected?

No clients were affected, and this is the part that matters most, so we'll be direct about it.

Every client who received advice during that period received it from a qualified adviser who was listed on the public Financial Advisers Register the whole time. ASIC's notice related to the missed registration step, not to the advice itself. For our part, no client lost money or cover. To be precise about ASIC's position: in ASIC's terms the adviser was "unregistered" during that window, because the relevant provider registration had not been completed, and ASIC treats that registration as a genuine consumer protection, not a paperwork formality. We're not going to pretend otherwise. In practical terms, though, the adviser was qualified, authorised under our licence and publicly listed on the FAR. The gap was the second registration, not the adviser's qualifications or your protections as a client.

If you're a Skye client and you want to check for yourself, you can look up any of our advisers on the Financial Advisers Register on Moneysmart and confirm their status says "registered". We'd encourage every Australian to run it on any adviser, ours included.

Why is Skye talking about this publicly?

Because we tell our clients we're always upfront, and that has to count when the news is about us, not just when it's about insurers.

Plenty of firms would bury this. Phil chose to publish the whole story under his own name instead, including the part where he says plainly: he made the mistake, he owned it, and the buck stopped with him as the responsible manager. We think that's worth more to you than a clean Google search.

Two things, and they're both real rather than press-release fluff.

First, we rebuilt our adviser onboarding checks so both registrations are verified independently before any new adviser speaks to a client. We've authorised four more advisers since then, and each registration has been triple-checked.

Second, we now treat regulator portals the way we treat insurance paperwork on behalf of our clients: never assume one box covers two obligations. It's the same discipline we apply when we read the fine print in your policy documents, now pointed at ourselves.

What does this mean if you're getting advice from Skye?

Nothing changes about how we work with you. We still give personalised life insurance advice, we still sit on your side of the table, and we still support you from the first conversation through to claim time. If anything, this episode is a useful preview of how we behave when something goes wrong: fix it fast, cooperate fully, and tell you the truth about it. That's the same approach Phil took in his LinkedIn article, where he wrote that the mistake was his, plain and simple.

Was Skye fined by ASIC?

Skye Money Pty Ltd, the AFS licensee Skye Wealth operates under, paid a $31,300 infringement notice on 1 July 2025 relating to a missed adviser registration step. In ASIC's own words, "payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability". You can read the full details in ASIC's media release 25-138MR.

Did a Skye adviser give advice without being qualified?

The adviser was qualified, authorised under the licence and listed on the public Financial Advisers Register at all times. The missed step was a separate ASIC registration category called "relevant provider", introduced on 16 February 2024. In ASIC's terminology this meant the adviser was "unregistered" until that second step was completed.

Were Skye clients put at risk?

ASIC's infringement notice related to the registration step, not to the advice given. No client lost money or cover, and the adviser's qualifications and authorisation were never in question.

How can I check my financial adviser is properly registered?

Search their name on the Financial Advisers Register at moneysmart.gov.au and check their status says "registered". It's free and takes about a minute.

Is Skye still licensed to give advice?

Yes. Skye Wealth (Thompson Financial Services Pty Ltd) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Skye Money Pty Ltd, AFS Licence No. 545313, and continues to advise clients across Australia.

Talk to us directly

If you're a client and anything here raises a question, ask us, not Google. Email hello@skye.com.au, call (03) 9068 0032.

What happened with Skye's ASIC infringement notice?