Perth adviser banned for four years
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned Perth-based financial adviser, Lawrence O’Neill, from providing financial services for a period of four years.
O’Neill, who was an authorised representative of NAB-owned Godfrey Pembroke Limited and Wealthsure Financial Services, was said to have failed to comply with financial services laws and was not adequately trained.
According to ASIC, he did not properly consider his clients’ circumstances or objectives and, in some cases, did not consider their existing products when providing personal advice.
The regulator also found that he failed to disclose to his clients his relevant associations and relationships with product issuers.
ASIC said it expected financial advisers providing personal advice to prioritise their clients’ interests over their own and to be transparent about potential conflicts of interest so clients can make better informed decisions.
The banning of Mr O’Neill came as a part of ASIC’s ongoing efforts to improve standards across the financial services industry and it would be recorded on ASIC's publicly available Financial Advisers Register and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
O’Neill has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
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.
