The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned two former advisers from Macquarie Equities Limited for providing inappropriate advice and failing to adhere to compliance requirements.
ASIC banned Jason Sourris and Sarah Kate Gardner from Queensland after it found they were involved in creating falsely executed and backdated client authority form, and lied to Macquarie about the validity of the document.
In addition to that, Sourris advised eight clients from September 2011 to November 2012 to open options accounts, and trade exchange traded options, while he failed to properly determine that this advice was appropriate. He also failed to provide a Statement of Advice to clients, prior to advising them to apply for the options accounts.
Both Sourris and Gardner had the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
Sourris was a private client adviser who was employed in Macquarie Equities Limited’s Brisbane office between 2008 and 2013, while Gardner worked as a strategic financial planner in Macquarie Equities Limited’s Brisbane office from 2007 to 2013 and worked in the same office.
Gardner formed an informal business partnership with Sourris, in which Gardner provided strategic and financial planning advice to clients, while Sourris provided investment advice.
The latest banning came after ASIC recently banned former, Macquarie Equities Limited adviser, Nicholas Kerr, for providing unauthorised discretionary trading on his client accounts. ASIC also banned three other MEL representatives in 2015 as part of its Wealth Management Project, including Ben Rickman, Shawn Hickman, and Brett O’Malley.
