The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) has banned financial planner Matthew Geappen from working in financial services for five years.
Also, Tai Thanh Nguyen has been permanently banned from providing financial services after an Asic investigation found that he had engaged in dishonest conduct.
Geappen
Asic’s concerns related to Geappen’s practice of “advising his clients to switch from one insurance product to another which allowed him to generate commissions”.
The watchdog’s investigation found that Geappen:
- Failed to act in the best interests of his clients;
- Failed to give advice that was appropriate;
- Failed to give priority to the interests of his clients over his own interests; and
- Was not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services.
Geappen was an authorised representative of Financial Wisdom (FWL), a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, from 18 December 2006 to 8 December 2016.
He provided financial product advice in respect of superannuation, insurance and income protection products.
Geappen has requested the Administrative Appeals Tribunal review Asic’s decision.
Nguyen
Asic found that Nguyen had “dishonestly backdated advice documents to clients, incorrectly witnessed binding nomination of beneficiary forms, created or modified documents on client files produced to Asic, and attempted to induce a client to mislead Asic”.
The financial watchdog also found that he had “further engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by allowing the incorrectly witnessed binding nomination forms to be submitted to insurers on behalf of two of his clients”.
Nguyen also “failed to comply with a financial services law by implementing financial advice to four clients before they were provided with a statement of advice”.
Asic commissioner Danielle Press said: “Financial advisers have a critical role to play in helping consumers make confident and informed decisions about financial products.
“They have an obligation to act in the best interests of their clients when providing advice and must adhere to ethical standards and conduct themselves with honesty and professionalism.
“Asic will continue to take action where the conduct of financial advisers is inadequate.”
Representative
Asic found that Nguyen is “likely to contravene a financial services law for reasons including that he had engaged in dishonest conduct while he was an authorised representative of GWM Adviser Services”, and “continued to do so while he was an authorised representative of InterPrac Financial Planning”.
He “acted dishonestly in the course of responding to an Asic statutory notice”.
Since around July 2005, Nguyen has operated a financial services business through his company, Financial Wealth Advisers. He has been an authorised representative of:
- Charter Financial Planning (a subsidiary of AMP) from 1 July 2005 to 13 December 2011;
- GWM Adviser Services (a subsidiary of NAB) from 6 December 2011 to 4 August 2015; and
- InterPrac Financial Planning from 5 August 2015.
Nguyen’s banning will be recorded on Asic’s Financial Advisers Register.
