HEINZ and Partners Lawyers have distanced their late former managing partner Ian Hankin from the collapse of the Banksia Financial Group.
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Mr Hankin died in a car accident in August this year.
Mr Hankin was the chairman of Banksia until 2009. The company went into receivership last month.
Heinz and Partners managing partner Graham Hills yesterday said the entire team at Heinz was still grieving Mr Hankin.
He also said although Banksia was originally co-founded by Heinz’s finance company Hedon Investments, it no longer had any financial connection with the failed non-bank lender.
“We are all missing him terribly,” said Mr Hills in a statement.
“At the time of his death Mr Hankin had no involvement in the management or direction of Banksia Securities Limited.”
Mr Hankin was managing director of Heinz and Partners at the time of his death, a position he had held for 20 years.
Mr Hills reaffirmed in his statement that nobody at Heinz and Partners had any knowledge of the impending Banksia collapse.
He said the company had been advising its clients to invest with Banksia for decades and that the collapse came as a complete shock.
However, he said the companies were not linked financially. “We’re not connected with Banksia in any financial way, we’re still a strong company,” he said.
“Our firm is financially independent of Banksia Securities Limited and had no prior knowledge of the issues with the company,” Mr Hills said.
A tribute article for Mr Hankin also appeared in the Law Institute Journal’s November edition, which Mr Hills said showed how respected he was as a lawyer.
patrick.nolan@thecourier.com.au