Banning order of ex-NAB aligned adviser reinforced
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia (AAT) has refused to revoke a five-year ban on a former Meritum Financial Group authorised representative after he was banned by the corporate regulator for failing to adhere to the Corporations Act.
Alfie Chong had applied to have his five-year ban from financial services industry revoked but the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia refused, citing ‘the protection of the public' as a reason.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) banned Alfie Chong on 4 September 2015 from providing financial services for five years, as it found he broke the law "by cutting and pasting client signatures on to an authority to proceed", "he failed to have a reasonable basis for at least two of his clients", and "on at least three occasions, failed to provide clients with a SOA [statement of advice]".
The tribunal received Chong's application to revoke his ban in February 2016.
His application said: "ASIC decision to ban me from providing financial services for the period of five years was unfair, prejudice (sic) and there was no client that had suffered any financial loss".
The AAT in Perth quashed Chong's application to have the ban lifted on 26 May, as they said his conduct "involved repeated/systematic compliance failures" and that he also did not show any "obvious remorse or insight" into the consequences of his misconduct.
They added that Chong's ban would have a "strong protective effect for the public", and reinforced the integrity of the financial services industry, and that it would also maintain the standards of the profession.
"The imposition of a banning order for three to 10 years is appropriate in Mr Chong's case. More specially, the tribunal finds that the imposition of a five-year banning period is appropriate," the tribunal concluded.
Recommended for you
ASIC data shows the number of smaller AFSLs with less than $50 million in revenue has increased by 25 per cent in the past year, but the regulator believes they are still under reporting breaches.
Former financial adviser and Coalition backbencher Bert van Manen has introduced a bill in Parliament, building on Michelle Levy’s good advice duty and calling for SOAs to be scrapped.
Following its recent partnership with Otivo, Colonial First State has now announced an arrangement with Viridian Advisory to offer unadvised members with one-off, topic-based financial advice.
Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand.
