Life adviser banned over breaches
A life/risk adviser who, amongst other things, was deemed to be excessively reliant on template Statements of Advice (SOAs) containing prepopulated information, has been banned for four years by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The ASIC banning followed notification from the adviser's licensee.
In announcing the banning, ASIC deputy chairman, Peter Kell made clear that advisers could not puruse what he called a "business model of simply ‘selling' life insurance without complying with the legal and regulatory obligations.
The banned adviser, Brian Farber, was described by ASIC as being "a life insurance financial adviser and former authorised representative of Risk Advice Specialists Pty Ltd".
Risk Advice Specialists Pty Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Macquarie Group Limited and has informed ASIC that it has ceased to trade and has commenced action to cancel its Australian Financial Services Licence.
The ASIC announcement said the banning action had been in response to information it received from the licensee concerning advice provided in relation to life insurance and insurance contracts by Farber.
ASIC found Farber was not adequately trained or competent to provide a financial service and that he had failed to comply with the financial services laws.
In particular, it was found that in a number of instances Mr Farber:
• Failed to act in his clients' best interests in the course of providing financial product advice;
• Engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to backdating a number of Statements of Advice (SOA);
• Failed to provide SOA to clients within the required timeframes; and
• Relied excessively on template SOA's containing prepopulated information and failed to adequately disclose information regarding product replacement.
"Consumers should be confident that their financial adviser is acting in their best interest. The business model of simply ‘selling' life insurance without complying with the legal and regulatory obligations will not be tolerated by ASIC and advisers who do so will be removed from the industry," Kell said.
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