Former AMP adviser banned for five years
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned a former AMP financial adviser, Desmond Winton Luplau, for five years, after finding that he failed to act in clients’ best interests and gave advice which was “well below community expectations”.
At the time of the offending behaviour, Luplau had been an authorised representative of Charter Financial Planning Limited, a company wholly owned by AMP Financial Planning.
He worked there from December 2013 to July 2016, which was the time period that the regulator’s surveillance had focused on.
Specifically, ASIC’s investigation uncovered that Luplau had failed to:
- Clearly explain what the advice was about;
- Consider the clients’ relevant personal and financial circumstances, including in some instances not obtaining those relevant details;
- Consider whether his clients’ existing financial products met their objectives;
- Compare clients’ existing products with those he recommended;
- Provide his clients with a clear and precise investment strategy; and
- Give appropriate disclosure about the benefits or consequences of replacing the clients’ financial products.
Additionally, the regulator found that Luplau’s record keeping practices were inadequate.
Luplau had also previously worked as an employee representative of Westpac from February 2005 to March 2010.
AUTHOR
Hannah Wootton
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
