ASIC permanently bans financial adviser after court conviction


Following his conviction in the Magistrates Court of Victoria, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned Christos Papaioannou from providing financial services.
On 29 March 2012, Papaioannou was found guilty by the Magistrates Court of obtaining money by deception, and of one count of attempting to obtain money by deception.
ASIC stated that Papaioannou was subsequently sentenced to prison for 15 months, with the sentence wholly suspended for a period of 18 months.
The fraud convictions concern his conduct as an authorised representative of BDO Kendalls Wealth Management, as it was then known.
Victorian police charged that Papaioannou had withdrawn, without authorisation, funds totalling $226,881 from several of his clients' self-managed superannuation funds.
Papaioannou has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's review.
Recommended for you
Financial Services Minister, Stephen Jones, has assured the cost and time to enter the financial advice profession will soon be halved, as shadow treasurer Angus Taylor pledges to reach 30,000 advisers.
The positive results of the latest financial adviser exam have helped the advice profession reach 15,600 yet again, according to Wealth Data analysis.
Financial advice firms have told Adviser Ratings they are planning to increase their compliance spend by almost a third, including on enhancements to their cyber security which ASIC has identified as an enforcement priority.
The digital advice platform is officially launching into the financial advice sector, offering up its services to practices as a means of engaging with the next generation of clients.