Former director of QLD advice firm receives seven year ban
ASIC has handed down a seven and a half year ban to Mark Andrew Cooper, the former sole director and chief financial officer of a Brisbane-based firm.
Cooper was the sole director of Acquire Strategic Advisers Pty Ltd between 27 August 2012 and 4 February 2020 and its chief financial officer during January and February 2022.
In banning Cooper, the corporate regulator found that he engaged in conduct in relation to financial services that was misleading and deceptive.
Additionally, it determined he was “not a fit and proper person” and “not adequately trained or competent” in relation to financial services, when between January 2018 and January 2022 he:
- caused or allowed Acquire to collect annual review fees from 240 client self-managed super funds, when those annual reviews had not been undertaken;
- caused or allowed Acquire to fail to have systems in place to ensure that clients received the annual client reviews that they had paid for; and
- failed to ensure that file notes of annual client reviews were uploaded to a document management system within reasonable time after the review occurred and thus failed to maintain complete, accurate and reliable records.
He has been banned from providing any financial services and from controlling an entity that carries a financial services business and performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business for seven and a half years.
The banning has been recorded on ASIC's Banned and disqualified register.
He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
Earlier this year, ASIC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from former Acquire Strategic Advisers director and financial adviser, Gregory Blackaby.
An ASIC investigation revealed he failed to keep adequate and up-to-date records to show he had provided clients with services they were entitled to under ongoing service arrangements.
Under the terms of the undertaking, Blackaby agreed he would not:
- carry on a financial services business,
- provide financial services, or
- act in a managerial capacity of any entity operating a financial services business or providing legal, accounting or other advisory services to a financial services business.
He was also an authorised representative of Capstone Financial Planning.
AUTHOR
Rhea Nath
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