A South Australian planner has been banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for two years from providing personal financial advice.
Russell Barry Collins-McBride of Seaview Downs was found to have provided Australian Financial Services clients with advice during 2005 while not a licensed financial adviser.
Products that Collins-McBride was found to have illegally advised clients to invest in included some Westpoint investment trusts, notably the Emu Brewery Mezzanine and Mount Street Promissory Notes.
Collins-McBride, who has operated as an authorised representative, was found to have advised AFS clients to invest the proceeds of a loan secured by a mortgage over their home.
The one-time Power Loan franchisee advised clients that an investment in these products would earn more interest than that payable on the loan.
He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of the two-year ban.
