ASIC has banned Mr Anthony Bishop of Chelmer, Queensland, from providing financial services for eight years.
ASIC found that during the period between July 2010 to April 2014, when he was an employee representative of Westpac Financial Consultants Ltd (which is a part of the Westpac Banking Corporation), Mr Bishop was involved in the provision of inappropriate advice to clients and also involved in the failure to provide one client with a written statement of advice.
ASIC found that Mr Bishop implemented a “one size fits all” advice strategy that
- did not tailor advice to clients’ personal and financial circumstances; and
- led to clients being over insured with inappropriate level of premiums.
ASIC also found Mr Bishop to
- have made one misrepresentation concerning tax savings; and
- not be competent to provide financial services.
Peter Kell, ASIC
ASIC Deputy Chair Peter Kell commented:
Advice needs to be tailored to the client’s needs and circumstances, and an advice provider must not lose sight of the needs of their client.
A customer remediation process was undertaken and 29 former clients were paid a total of $1,127,543 made up of advice fees, refunds of premiums for inappropriate advice and market loss relating to investments.