Ex-Spectrum adviser banned for five years

ASIC/ban/Spectrum-Wealth-Advisers/LRBA/insurance-advice/SMSF/

26 May 2020
| By Jassmyn |
image
image
expand image

The corporate regulator has banned former Spectrum Wealth adviser, Sean Philip Lewis, for five years after advising most clients to use a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) and providing insurance advice to generate large commissions for himself.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the Hunter Valley-based adviser failed to comply with financial services law, failed to provide advice that was in the best interests of his clients, and failed to provide advice that was appropriate for his clients’ objectives.

The LRBAs were used to fund the purchase of real property through a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) but Lewis did not assess whether the strategy was appropriate for each of his clients.

“He also did not adequately investigate or offer any alternative investment strategies that may have provided greater diversification of risks,” ASIC said.

ASIC also found when providing insurance advice, Lewis prioritised his own interests over that of clients as the advice would generate large commissions for himself, regardless of whether the recommended products were appropriate for his clients.

Lewis was an authorised representative of Spectrum between December 2013 and June 2018, and was most recently an authorised representative of Consolidated Mercantile Group between July 2019 and January 2020.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

1 month 3 weeks ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months ago

Entireti has unveiled the new name for the AMP financial advice businesses that it acquired last year....

4 weeks ago

A Sydney financial adviser has been permanently banned from providing any financial services, with the regulator deriding his “lack of integrity, trustworthiness and prof...

2 weeks 6 days ago

Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has provided further information about the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms....

1 week 5 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS