ASIC permanently bans unethical planner
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned a financial adviser from providing financial services, after finding that he was not of good fame or character and had acted unethically.
The regulator found that Muneer Mahmood Khan, also known as Ivan Khan, obtained $185,800 from an elderly person, who had been a client when Khan had been employed at Westpac as a senior financial planner.
Khan had ceased to work for Westpac at the time of the offence, something he did not disclose to the client.
Khan claimed that $125,000 of the total amount was loaned to him to fund the development of his own financial planning business, and that the balance had been a gift from the client.
ASIC found, however, that Khan had failed to ensure that the elderly person obtained independent financial advice in relation to advancing funds to him, the funds were largely spent on personal expenses and none of the funds were used to establish a business.
As a result, the regulator decided that Khan’s request that the client give him money, whether as a gift or a loan, was unethical and took advantage of the client’s vulnerable circumstances.
Furthermore, although the client repeatedly asked Khan for repayment, he only returned $10,270 of the total funds taken. Westpac then engaged with the customer about remediation.
Khan appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review and stay of ASIC’s decision, with the result yet to be decided.
Khan had previous worked as a financial planner for Westpac, Yellow Brick Road Wealth Management and NAB.
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