ASIC bans two advisers for five years

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned Gold Coast-based advisers, Trent Allan and Fabrizio Urrutia, from providing any financial services for five years.

They were involved with Vision Wealth, which established a website called Australian Super Search, which was used to attract clients by helping them find their lost superannuation through the Australian Tax Office’s (ATO) free service.

The search results were used by Allan and Urrutia to provide clients with superannuation consolidation and insurance advice, and clients were signed up to an ongoing service arrangement.

ASIC found that Allan and Urrutia had not complied with financial services laws and the corporate regulator had reason to believe that they were not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services.

ASIC said both provided advice without a thorough investigation of the clients’ needs and objectives.

“In many cases, they did not make adequate enquiries about their clients’ existing superannuation and insurance products,” ASIC said.

“Their advice also failed to provide appropriate reasoning for recommending the replacement of existing products.

“ASIC found that, in providing this advice, Mr Allan and Mr Urrutia failed to act in the best interests of their clients and prioritised their own interests over their clients’ interests.

“ASIC also found that advice documents, comparing the existing and recommended products, were materially misleading.”

Both were authorised representatives (ARs) of Australian financial services licensee (AFSLs) Financial Masterplan from 24 June, 2016, until 25 May, 2021.

The bannings were recorded on the Financial Advisers Register and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.