ASIC takes out two advisers
The Australian Securites and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned a New South Wales securities representative and jailed a Queensland insurance broker, in its latest efforts to tidy up the industry.
The financial industry watchdog imposed a two year ban on John William Lloyd, a former Bleakleys proper authority holder, after finding Lloyd had allowed a director from another company to issue Bleakleys receipts to his company’s clients.
Lloyd had allowed a director of Supadmin, Matthew Palmer, to issues clients of Supadmin with Bleakleys receipts. At the time, Palmer did not hold a proper authority with Bleakleys and the funds received by Supadmin were never reported to Bleakleys.
Palmer was permanently banned from acting as a representative of a securities dealer or investment adviser in May this year, and ASIC imposed the two year ban on Lloyd because the regulator considered he had failed to meet the standards required of a representative of a securities dealer.
In a separate case, former director of Trojan Insurance Brokers, John Andrew Hurlock, pleaded guilty to 12 charges brought against him by ASIC and was sentenced in Townsville’s District Court to three years jail.
For two years Hurlock had sent a number of false invoices to Trojan clients for the renewal of insurance policies he brokered on their behalf.
Hurlock pleaded guilty to five charges of false pretences and seven charges of fraud totalling about $35,000. The three year sentence carries a non-parole period of nine months.
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.