Former AMP adviser banned

A former AMP financial adviser has been banned for life from acting as an in-vestment adviser.

A former AMP financial adviser has been banned for life from acting as an in-vestment adviser.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ruled that Laurence Tobin had used funds invested by clients for his "own benefit" and had recom-mended that they invest in a scheme which was not AMP approved.

Tobin acted as a financial adviser for AMP between September 1995 and September 1996, and has now been banned from acting as the representative of a securities dealer or financial adviser.

AMP has compensated two of Tobin's clients for their losses, while it is still investigating a third claim.

ASIC launched an investigation into Tobin's activities after AMP accused him of improper conduct.

An administrative hearing before an ASIC delegate found that Tobin approached a number of his current and former clients between 1994 and 1998, recommending that they invest in a scheme known as the Twinelles Mortgage Reserve Fund, which was not an AMP-approved product.

ASIC said it had obtained statements from four of Tobin's former clients who said they had lost more than $300,000 by investing in Twinelles.

Three of those investors lost amounts of $66,732, $69,000 and $58,000, ASIC says. Two of the investors have been compensated in full by AMP, while it is currently addressing the issue of compensating the third investor. The fourth investor, who did not meet Tobin in his capacity as an agent for AMP, lost $117,000.

Tobin was declared bankrupt on November 22, 1996.