ASIC challenged on mislabelling law-breakers as ‘financial advisers’
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been challenged to explain why it describes financial planning law-breakers as “financial advisers” when they are not.
The challenge was mounted by NSW Liberal back-bencher, Jason Falinski who asked ASIC to explain why a person who was not a financial adviser and who had not been included on the Financial Adviser Register (FAR) was being described as a “financial advisor” in an ASIC media release.
Falinski said he was referring to an ASIC media release issued on 5 November under the headline “Former financial advisor convicted and fined $30,000 for dishonest conduct”.
The ASIC media release said Mark Damion Kawecki, of Frankston, Victoria, had been convicted and fined $30,000 in the Melbourne County Court for engaging in dishonest conduct related to attempts to artificially satisfy the minimum spread requirement for companies seeking to be admitted to the ASX.
Falinski said that Kawecki was not a financial adviser and he wanted to know why ASIC was choosing to describe him that way.
“He is not a financial adviser and describing him as a financial adviser is not going to instil some necessary confidence in the financial planning industry,” he said.
ASIC commissioner, Danielle Press took Falinski’s question on notice, undertaking to find out why Kawecki had been described as a financial adviser if he was not one.’
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