Hobart adviser banned for 4 years
The regulator has banned a financial adviser for four years after breaching best interest duty and failure to give appropriate advice for clients.
ASIC has banned Hobart-based financial adviser Hannah Jennings from providing financial services, carrying on a financial services business and controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business for four years.
“ASIC found that Ms Jennings failed to act in the best interests of her clients by providing advice that was inappropriate in light of her clients’ relevant personal circumstances,” the regulator said.
“ASIC reviewed advice provided by Ms Jennings which recommended clients continue with double gearing strategies despite knowing that clients struggled to service the borrowing arrangements.
“In providing this advice, Ms Jennings had no regard to the clients’ relevant personal circumstances, their cash flow position or their ability to cover margin calls. Ms Jennings also failed to consider an exit strategy for her clients as well as appropriate personal insurance cover.”
Additionally, ASIC found that Ms Jennings also failed to keep proper records and that she was not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services.
“Her lack of understanding about her legal and professional obligations as a financial adviser created additional risks to her current and future clients,” the regulator noted.
Ms Jennings’ banning took effect on 1 April 2021. Ms Jennings applied to the AAT for a review of ASIC’s decision but withdrew her application on 8 June 2021.
The banning of Ms Jennings is part of ASIC’s ongoing efforts to improve standards across the financial services industry and has been recorded on ASIC’s publicly available Financial Advisers Register and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
Ms Jennings is the sole director and only authorised financial adviser of FF Planning Solutions Pty Ltd, previously known as Fort Financial Group Pty Ltd (Fort Financial), and an authorised representative of InterPrac Financial Planning Pty Ltd since March 2017.
Ms Jennings has been a financial adviser since 2009 and has been authorised by a number of AFS licensees.
The misconduct which resulted in this banning occurred during the time she was an authorised representative of Meritum Financial Group Pty Ltd (February 2012 to February 2017) and InterPrac Financial Planning Pty Ltd.
Tony Zhang
Tony Zhang is a journalist at Accountants Daily, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the accounting sector.
Since joining the Momentum Media team in 2020, Tony has written for a range of its publications including Lawyers Weekly, Adviser Innovation, ifa and SMSF Adviser. He has been full-time on Accountants Daily since September 2021.
