Compliance

Australian Watchdog Bans Former ANZ Advisor For 10 Years

Tom Burroughes Group Editor January 15, 2016

Australian Watchdog Bans Former ANZ Advisor For 10 Years

The regulator has banned a former financial advisor for creating false bank documents and forging clients' signatures.

Australia’s financial watchdog has banned a former ANZ representative for 10 years for misleading and deceptive conduct such as forging bank documents and creating false paperwork.

Ben Cheung, of Epping, New South Wales, was banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The regulator found that from April 2013 to March 2014 he forged signatures of clients on statements of advice, investment instruction forms and an investment withdrawal form and created false bank documents. 

“Cracking down on behaviour like this goes to the heart of maintaining consumer trust and confidence. The banning of Mr Cheung demonstrates ASIC's Wealth Management Project is identifying and tackling this kind of fraudulent behaviour,” said Peter Kell, ASIC's deputy chairman.

Cheung has appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.

This latest action is a result of ASIC's Wealth Management Project, which was set up in October 2014 to raise standards among financial advisors. It targets the biggest financial advice firms, such as NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, AMP and Macquarie.

 

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