ASIC action challenged

The Australian Financial Services Group (AFS) has vowed to support a Sydney financial planner, Michael Parker, in an Administrative Appeals Tribunal appeal against a banning order imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

AFS has expressed disappointment at the process followed by ASIC and has claimed the penalty imposed on Parker is disproportionate.

AFS has predicated its support for Parker on the basis that no client suffered loss as a result of Parker’s actions and that, indeed, some clients may have benefited from lower costs.

In a statement issued late last week, AFS said it acknowledged and supported the need for a robust and strong industry and the role of the regulator in achieving this outcome, but was disappointed by the decision to place a banning order on Parker.

ASIC banned Parker, of Sydney suburb Castle Hill, from working in the financial services industry for two years.

Parker was an authorised representative of AFS and provided financial planning services through Associated Professional Advisers Pty Ltd. Parker worked for Associated Professional Advisers, based in Hornsby, NSW, from July 3, 2006.

Parker was banned after an ASIC investigation found that towards the end of September 2006 he sent 90 clients an identical Statement of Advice recommending the rollover of their superannuation savings to a fund in which AFS Limited had a financial interest.

The regulator found that Parker did so without first determining and making enquiries in relation to each client’s personal circumstances or considering whether his advice to each client was appropriate.

The AFS statement said that it believed that no client had suffered loss and that some clients would have benefited from lower costs.

“AFS also understands that the appeal will question ASIC’s assertion that Parker did not first make enquiries in relation to client’s personal circumstances or consider whether the advice to each client was appropriate.”