Insurance adviser permanently banned
A former insurance adviser has been permanently banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as a direct result of the regulator's ongoing investigation into ACE Insurance.
The regulator announced today that it had permanently banned Abhinav Gupta who it described as a former authorised representative of ACE Insurance.
The ASIC announcement said Gupta was banned after the regulator found he was likely to contravene financial services laws and was not of good fame and character due to a range of dishonest conduct.
It said Gupta was an authorised representative of ACE Insurance between October 2013 and May 2014, operating through ACE's Combined Insurance division in Victoria and that during this time, he was responsible for selling accident and sickness insurance policies to the general public.
The ASIC announcement said its investigation had found that Gupta:
- issued a policy in the name of a client who never agreed to taking out the policy, nor signed the application;
- used a client's bank account details on another client's policy application without authorisation; and
- issued at least 12 fictional policies in the names of clients that either did not exist and/or contained numerous fictional details in the policy applications, such as false employment details and non-existent bank accounts.
The ASIC announcement made the point that Gupta was not remunerated by way of salary whilst at Combined Insurance, but received upfront and volume bonus commissions based upon policies sold, along with incentive prizes such as electronic devices and gift vouchers.
Commenting on the ban, ASIC deputy chairman, Peter Kell said Gupta's actions were motivated by his own potential gains.
"For the protection of the public, ASIC will act to ensure dishonest insurance advisers are removed from the industry," he said.
Gupta's conduct was identified in the course of ASIC's investigation into ACE and their Combined Insurance division. ASIC's investigation into ACE is ongoing.
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