ASIC bans South Australian adviser for three years
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned South Australian financial adviser, Ramana Rao, from providing financial services for three years due to his lack of professionalism.
According to the corporate regulator, Rao demonstrated a lack of professionalism, judgement and integrity when advising some of his self-managed super funds (SMSF) clients.
ASIC found that Rao had advised one of his clients to obtain financial assistance by drawing out funds from their SMSF where the removal was not permitted by the Superannuation Industry Act 1991 or the SMSF’s trust deed.
In the eyes of ASIC, Rao failed to prioritise the interests of a client over his own by recommending that his SMSF client provide a loan to his business.
According to ASIC, Rao knew that such an investment was not a sound one.
ASIC also found, that in both instances, Rao failed to give his clients statements of advice.
Rao has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a review of ASIC’s decision.
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
Unregistered managed investment scheme operator Chris Marco has been sentenced after being found guilty of 43 fraud charges, receiving the highest sentence imposed by an Australian court regarding an ASIC criminal investigation.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of Sydney-based Arrumar Private after it failed to comply with the conditions of its licence.
Two investment advisory research houses have announced a merger to form a combined entity under the name Delta Portfolios.
The top five licensees are demonstrating a “strong recovery” from losses in the first half of the year, and the gap is narrowing between their respective adviser numbers.
