AAT stays ASIC’s ban of former adviser
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has stayed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) banning of former financial adviser, Michael Spencer, from providing financial services for three years after ASIC had found he had engaged in manipulation of the price of warrants.
After ASIC's decision, which was issued in September, Spencer applied for its review in the AAT and he also applied for a stay of ASIC's decision.
In November, the AAT made orders staying the operation and implementation of ASIC's decision until the review application would be determined and Spencer gave undertakings to the AAT that, while the stay would be in effect, he would not:
- Deal in the derivatives market;
- Make a market for a financial product; or
- Seek or obtain employment as a trader.
According to ASIC's earlier investigation, in 2013, Spencer had engaged in the manipulation of the price of the three types of MINI warrants issued by Credit Suisse, a type of derivative product traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The regulator found that he took part in back-to-back buy and sell trades in MINIs on ASX with a former employee of Credit Suisse after the pair had pre-arranged the MINI series, the price, the volume and the approximate timing of the trades.
Additionally, the prices were designed in such a way that it would enable the transfer of the agreed profits from all the proceeding trading and this was likely to have the effect of creating an artificial price for trading in the affected MINIs.
In October, 2013, Credit Suisse ceased issuing MINIs on the ASX.
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