ASIC bans ex-NAB adviser
A former authorised representative a National Australia Bank (NAB) subsidiary has been banned from providing financial services for six years, over contraventions of financial services law.
An investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found that Mark Lionel Tidbury, recommended clients switch to a different superannuation product in circumstances where there was "little benefit but significant additional cost to the client in switching".
The investigation, carried out under the Wealth Management Project, found that while his clients gained minimal, if any, benefit from changing super, Tidbury received increased adviser fees.
ASIC found that between August 2013 and June 2014, while acting as an authorised representative of Meritum Financial Group, Tidbury had:
- failed to act in the best interests of his clients, by giving them advice that may leave the clients in a worse position than if they had not followed his advice;
- failed to accurately disclose the fees associated with the advice;
- failed to put the interests of his clients ahead of his own when he knew that there was a conflict between his and the clients' interests; and
- failed to provide sufficient information to clients about the charges associated with the switching of their financial products.
NAB Wealth Advice executive general manager, Greg Miller, said that NAB proactively reported Tidbury to ASIC after it had completed its own internal investigation.
"Doing the right thing by our customers must be the priority for advisers but this wasn't the case for Mr Tidbury, which is why we took decisive action," Miller said.
He added that NAB has contacted customers impacted by inappropriate advice provided by Tidbury, to compensate them.
"We want to strengthen our business and ensure we are always open, transparent and take issues impacting customers seriously," Miller said.
AUTHOR
Nicholas O'Donoghue
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