ASIC has banned Sydney-based former financial adviser Lisa Lee from providing financial services for eight years.
Ms Lee was a representative of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) between 5 June 2010 and 15 June 2017 and Infocus Securities Australia between 19 September 2017 and 19 November 2018. She is no longer providing financial advice.
ASIC found that while a representative of ANZ, Ms Lee falsely witnessed binding nomination of beneficiary forms for 17 clients, backdated documents, and falsified a client’s signature on documents.
“Financial advisers must act with honesty and integrity in their dealings with clients,” ASIC said.
“ASIC may ban a financial adviser if it has reason to believe that they are not of good fame or character or likely to fail to comply with the financial services law.”
Ms Lee has appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
Ms Lee’s banning has been recorded on ASIC’s publicly available Financial Advisers Register and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
This comes as ASIC had also recently banned an adviser for five years after being found of providing misleading communications to clients around the transition of their super.
It’s a grey area whether a BDBN is an estate planning or superannuation exercise. Personally, I consider it’s a cross-over activity. Are you saying that advisers should not make any comment – or advise – in this area at all? If so, how does this stance sit with their obligations under the FASEA Code of Ethics, Standard 6. And the BID? Curious on your perspective.
It’s a shame ASIC didn’t also consider the appropriateness of financial advisers to give advise on what is estate planning. Routinely recommending and then enabling clients to execute a BDBN is fraught. The old catch-cry ‘super is not an estate asset’ doesn’t remove it from the potential for estate contestation especially in NSW where it forms a part of the deceased’s notional estate.
As for advisers backdating and falsifying documents, why was the penalty only 8 years suspension? There is no place for advisers that think this is acceptable.