A Storm Financial adviser has been permanently banned by the regulator after it was found he failed to comply with financial services laws.
Currently an authorised representative with AAA Financial Intelligence, Walter John Fullerton-Smith's banning concerns his conduct as a financial adviser with Storm between May 2006 and June 2009.
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation found that between 20 November 2007 and 10 December 2010, Fullerton-Smith was involved in a number of misleading and deceptive activities involving an elderly couple.
Specifically, ASIC found:
· he had breached the 'client planner' relationship by using the couples' MLC investments as security for a margin loan taken out in the name of a trust of which he was the trustee and one of the beneficiaries while knowing they stood to lose their entire investment;
· falsely implied the investment of the couples' MLC units would be safe and misrepresented the risks and;
· did not pass on the clients' $60,051 paid to him in error by the Commonwealth Bank as a settlement under the CBA Storm Resolution Scheme.
Fullerton-Smith has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to seek a review of the regulator's decision.
Earlier this month, another former Storm adviser – Terence Edward Webb – agreed to an enforceable undertaking, agreeing to undertake specified courses of professional development within 12 months.
