Defiant stockbrokers refuse to pay up for Iress tech upgrades
Australia's peak stockbroking body has claimed there is no legal basis for its members to cover the company's cost blowout as tensions flare.
Australia's stockbrokers have told Iress they won't pick up the bill for the financial services provider's latest tech upgrade, threatening to strike a blow to the ASX-listed company's bottom line.
In letter sent last week by the Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA) to Iress' independent chair Roger Sharp and obtained by Capital Brief, the peak body argues there is no legal basis for the company's attempt to charge customers directly for upgrading its own systems.
"It is not our members’ responsibility to fund [the company's] capital costs," SIAA CEO Judith Fox said in the correspondence.
Fox added that the Association's members – which covers the breadth of the broking industry and includes CommSec, Cannacord, Bell Potter, Shaw & Partners, Wilsons, and CMC among others – would "as a whole" not pay after being advised they would be invoiced for a one-off fee.
