ASIC has banned Kyle Marshall, of Varsity Lakes, Queensland, from providing financial services for three years.
ASIC found Mr Marshall had not complied with financial services laws and lacked fundamental knowledge and competency relevant to providing financial services.
Mr Marshall was an authorised representative of Sentinel Private Wealth Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) (Sentinel) and a director of Vogue Planners Pty Limited, which was a corporate authorised representative of Sentinel.
Mr Marshall provided personal advice to clients, recommending they invest in a share investment strategy involving trading in options operated by Mr Rodney Peters, a director of Australian Share Registry Pty Ltd. ASIC found there were significant flaws in Mr Marshall’s process for providing his clients advice to invest in the share investment strategy, and that he was not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services. In particular:
Mr Marshall failed to act in the best interests of his clients;
Mr Marshall’s advice to his clients, who were inexperienced in investing in shares and options, was not appropriate;
The Statements of Advice Mr Marshall provided to his clients did not accurately record his advice or his clients’ relevant circumstances and did not contain the level of detail reasonably required for the purpose of deciding to act on the advice;
Mr Marshall did not understand the meaning of personal advice;
Mr Marshall failed to record his communications with his clients; and
Mr Marshall failed to disclose to his clients that a company, of which he was sole director, would receive a commission from referring client to Mr Peters.
Mr Marshall’s clients ultimately experienced large losses on their investments with Mr Peters.
The banning of Mr Marshall is part of ASIC’s ongoing efforts to improve standards across the financial services industry. It will be recorded on ASIC’s publicly available Financial Advisers Register and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
Mr Marshall has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
ASIC’s MoneySmart website has useful information for consumers about choosing a financial adviser, including how to complain about a financial adviser and what to do if their adviser is banned.
