The late Phil Doring’s broker son Tony was last week banned from providing insurance services, but his brothers are continuing their father’s legacy by investing in a new company carrying the Doring name.

Tony Doring took over management of Phil Doring Insurance Brokers (PDIB) in April 2013 after Phil died. But the company was forced into liquidation in April last year and Tony was declared bankrupt in June.

Last week he was banned from providing financial services after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found he had committed a number of serious breaches, including misappropriating money from a trust account.

The company was established in 1990. It was part of the Steadfast network and had offices in Mackay and Melbourne.

insuranceNEWS.com.au understands that Steadfast became aware of financial anomalies during a routine check in October 2015. It immediately mounted an exercise to safeguard clients’ policies and inform involved insurers, clients and ASIC.

The checks uncovered a shortfall of between $700,000 and $1.1 million in the brokerage’s trust account.

ASIC says Tony Doring did not obtain an Australian financial services licence when he took over the business, and in the two years he ran the business he deliberately engaged in dishonest conduct by misappropriating money from the brokerage’s trust account.

The money was used to enable the company to continue trading.

He also cancelled clients’ insurance policies without their authorisation and failed to lodge annual auditor's reports and financial statements with the regulator. 

Following the liquidation of their father’s company last year, Mr Doring’s brothers Tom and Matt, who do not work in the insurance industry, have invested in a new brokerage in Mackay and employed staff from the old company.

“The staff needed jobs when the old company sank, and the brothers have established a new business to allow them working,” a source told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The new company, Doring Insurance Brokers, is an authorised representative of United Insurance Group, which is affiliated with the Steadfast network.