Planner misleads clients – five-year ban
Misleading Statements of Advice (SOAs) and inappropriate recommendations have resulted in a five-year ban from providing financial services for former Mawson Securities financial planner Neil Hartley.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) handed down the sanction after it found the Queensland-based planner had failed to comply with financial services laws and that there was reason to believe this would continue.
In 2004-05, Hartley advised 13 clients to invest in tax effective managed investment schemes without considering their personal circumstances to determine whether the advice was suitable.
Hartley gave each of the clients misleading SOAs in which he told them the investment would provide diversification, flexibility, independence in selecting investment managers and access to wholesale investment pools.
These statements were false and ASIC concluded that Hartley used them to induce clients to make investments in accordance with his recommendations.
Hartley also failed to properly disclose the commission payments he would receive as a result of his advice.
ASIC also found that following Hartley’s resignation from Mawsons in October 2005, he continued to claim he was authorised to provide financial services.
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.
