good decision by ASIC on this one to kick out this thief. bye bye. there is no place in the financial advice profession for this type of misconduct.

the next thing ASIC need to do is to stamp out the use of "award-winning adviser" (that term) we all know what it is, they are dishonest, misleading, and deceptive (remember financial advisers have an overarching obligation aside from the FASEA code to act fairly, honestly and efficiently). if you use that term it should be qualified with a disclaimer that goes something like this:

I submitted an application for myself to a marketing company whose fame and repute in the financial advice profession is dubious at best. that firm generates income by selling space on its marketing brochure. I was not peer-reviewed and voted on by my peers. the panel of judges on that marketing company who have no experience or expertise in financial advice and who have only a remote idea of what financial planning constitutes voted me as the "winner" of a category of which there are multitudes of categories.

ironically, most of these award winners get banned by ASIC within a year or two. we really need to stamp this out by our profession. the FPA and AFA need to lead on this by stating that you must disclose the "award-winning criteria" even the Americans are doing that.

we all know, if we don't lead the profession on this issue ASIC will and they will then use a blunt instrument to cut everyone off. even those truly awarded I have seen many some who have multiple advanced degrees (5 +) and designations (5+) all earned by diligence and hard work do not promote themselves that way. I really wish the FASEA code had added professional behavior as one of the codes and how you can market yourself. even the accountants (it's really embarrassing) have it:

APES Code 110 subsection 115 professional behavior:
1) member shall not engage in activity that impairs or might impair ... good reputation of the profession (R115.1)
2) exaggerated claims for the services offered

the truly qualified financial planners and the most successful ones are not well-known in the industry (because they don't want to partner with product manufacturers). we should change if we truly want to be known as a renowned and respected body of professionals.

we have a duty to call out these instances when we see it (standard 12)