Director banned for seven years by ASIC
A former director at Olive Financial Markets, Scott John Morrison, has been banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for seven years for failing to act in the best interest of clients.
Morrison, of NSW, was the firm’s sole director between 20 February, 2013 to 13 November, 2019 and ASIC found that he had failed to act in the best interest of clients, was not competent to provide financial product advice, was likely to contravene financial services law and was involved in contraventions by Olive where it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading statements.
The regulator also cancelled Olive’s Australian financial services licence (AFSL) as it had not complied with licensee obligations and was likely to contravene them in the future.
Between the period covered, 2013-2018, Olive operated two Gold Coast-based businesses which were a managed discretionary account service and a superannuation rollover business.
The MDA service traded in contracts for difference (CFDs) over equities, commodities, indices and foreign exchange while the superannuation rollover business involved clients being cold-called and advised to roll over their superannuation from their existing fund to be managed by Olive on either the Hub24 or Netwealth Investments platform.
ASIC found Olive had:
- Failed to ensure that it provided financial services efficiently, honestly and fairly;
- Engaged in unconscionable conduct;
- Engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and made false or misleading statements;
- Contravened the hawking prohibitions by making unsolicited calls to potential clients;
- Failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that its representatives complied with their obligations to act in the best interests of clients, and their obligations not to make false or misleading statements or engage in misleading or deceptive conduct;
- Did not comply with obligations to ensure that its representatives were adequately trained and competent; and
- Did not have a compliant dispute resolution system.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
The Governance Institute has said ASIC’s governance arrangements are no longer “fit for purpose” in a time when financial markets are quickly innovating and cyber crime becomes a threat.
Compliance professionals working in financial services are facing burnout risk as higher workloads, coupled with the ever-changing regulation, place notable strain on staff.
The Senate economics legislation committee has recommended Schedule 1 of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes legislation be passed as it is a “faithful implementation” of the recommendations.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has handed down his third budget, outlining the government’s macroeconomic forecasts and changes to superannuation.
