Hathway blasts ASIC statement on VU

Helm Advisory's Stephen Hathway
Photo: SiN Images

HELM Advisory founder Stephen Hathway was in a somewhat indignant state when SiN called last night to get the skinny on his recent brush with the compliance cops.

Around midday yesterday ASIC released a statement advising that Hathway had given the regulator a voluntary undertaking (VU) to implement firm-wide training at Helm Advisory, the firm Hathway founded in October last year after being axed from SV Partners.

Since SiN broke the story of his departure from SV in September, it's been unclear what caused the falling out between Hathway and SV managing director Terry Van Der Velde. But an unfavourable ASIC compliance review that could be laid at Hathway's feet might explain it.

When contacted, Hathway was more interested in attacking the wording of ASIC's press release, pointing out that despite the compliance failures identified taking place while he was at SV Partners, the ASIC statement makes no mention of his former firm.

"This is appalling because the firm (Helm Advisory) only started in October (2015) and the offences that've been represented in this report were all related to SV Partners," he said.

"I think it's a terrible misleading statement by ASIC but I can't do anything about it."

Ousted Hathway launches new firm

Helm Advisory founder Stephen Hathway (R) with
senior manager Adam Preiner.
Photo: SiN Images

STEPHEN Hathway hasn't wasted time. Little more than a month after being ejected from the SV Partners' Sydney practice he co-founded, Hathway is up and running with a new outfit he's dubbed Helm Advisory.

ASIC records show Helm Advisory Pty Ltd was registered on August 31 and SiN dropped into the new offices at 32 Martin Place yesterday to meet the team.

The core is made up of SV defectors. There's senior manager Adam Preiner, senior accountant Yuhan Tan and supervisor Alvin Yu. Their decision to break with SV was critical in ensuring Hathway could continue managing the appointments he brought with him.

Including the founder and the SV three, Helms' initial complement is seven but Hathway said he's on the lookout for another registered liquidator and possibly a trustee in bankruptcy to complete the team, which he sees as operating firmly in the SME debtor space.

"There's a whole discussion about what is the ideal size of a debtors insolvency practice," Hathway said. 

"The trap is growing it to a size where you start building a head office and the head office starts charging and some people in the head office don't believe they have to work on the files and they just become something that has to be paid for," he said. 

When contacted SV Partners' managing director Terry van der Velde, dismissed suggestions that Hathway's axing and the loss of three staff would precipitate further redundancies at the Sydney practice. 

"We are certainly not making anyone redundant, in fact there are top quality candidates in the market at present so it gives us an opportunity to hire them," van der Velde said.

See also: SV ditches executive director

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SV ditches executive director

Ditched SV Partners executive director
Stephen Hathway
Photo courtesy SV Partners 

STEPHEN Hathway, the man who with Tim Heesh established SV Partners in NSW almost a decade ago has been dumped by the firm, with clients advised of his departure via email last week.

"Dear Colleagues, we advise that Stephen Hathway, Director in our New South Wales practice, has ceased to have an active involvement with SV Partners and is presently on extended leave. 

"Stephen joined SV Partners in 2006 and was an integral part of growth in our New South Wales practice," the firm said.

When contacted Hathway said he couldn't say talk about the reasons for his departure until the details had been finalised.

"I set up SV in NSW with Tim Heesh nine years ago but it's interesting, you get employed by firms and obviously take an employment contract, but then I took about 120 appointments in my own name," he said.

In circumstances where people leave firms, Hathway said there is work that registered liquidators have in terms of specific appointments that employment contracts don't adequately account for.

"Some are in our own name and we've been put there by creditors, not necessarily by the firm," he said, implying that appointments of this kind would need to be accounted for in his compensation and entitlement arrangements. "I'm a shareholder of SV so that also has to be worked out," Hathway added.

SV founder Terry van der Velde declined to go into detail about why Hathway had left. He said the firm has "... a clear process for staff transition and normal procedures are being followed to ensure that all client work continues according to requirements. The full SV Partners team is supporting clients during this change," van der Velde said.

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