Former Macquarie Equities representative banned
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned a former Macquarie Equities Limited representative from providing financial services for three years after finding he was not adequately trained to provide financial services.
ASIC banned Ben Rickman after investigations found that during his employment at MEL from July 2012 to June 2014, he represented himself as a solicitor/conveyancer in a property purchase transaction, and drafted legal documents such as wills, and gave legal advice about those documents.
However, Rickman has no legal qualifications and is not licensed as a conveyancer.
"ASIC found that the poor results of file reviews conducted by Macquarie, and the fact that Mr Rickman acted outside the scope of his Macquarie Representative Authority and employment agreement demonstrated that Mr Rickman does not have the ability, professional skills or judgement to competently provide financial services," ASIC said.
"Further, ASIC found that Mr Rickman has demonstrated a lack of understanding regarding the role of a financial adviser."
Rickman has appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.
The investigations were conducted as part of ASIC's Wealth Management Project, which was set up in October 2014 and focuses on the conduct of large financial advice firms such as Westpac, the Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ, Macquarie and AMP.
The project looks to identify non-compliant advice, and seeks regulatory outcomes against licensees and advisers where required.
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