Ex NAB-aligned adviser banned
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned a financial adviser and former authorised representative of Meritum Financial Group, a part of the NAB and MLC network.
The corporate regulator has banned Alfie Chong from providing financial services for five years, and his banning will be recorded on ASIC's register of financial advisers.
A review of Chong's advice and compliance record found that he had given inappropriate advice, failed to take his clients' personal circumstances into account or conduct appropriate investigations into his advice.
He also copied and pasted a client's signature on to an authority to proceed form, provided personal advice without giving clients their statement of advice (SOA), and made clients implement his advice before providing an SOA.
ASIC said it reviewed Chong's advice as part of its review of advice on complex retail structured products across ten licensees.
The review found many conduct or disclosure failures around the marketing and advice on these products across licensees in the sample pool.
Chong was a representative of Meritum from September 2005 to March 2006, and from July 2007 to June 2014.
He can appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.
AUTHOR
Malavika Santhebennur
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