Investor club feels heat from ASIC
Australian Investors Forum Limited (AIF) has agreed to cease all investment advi-sory activities following action taken by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Australian Investors Forum Limited (AIF) has agreed to cease all investment advi-sory activities following action taken by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Australian Investors Forum was operating as an investor club, with about 400 members paying an annual fee to receive information relating to upcoming share issues.
It has been alleged that AIF may have been operating in breach of the Corporations Law. Although all investment advice was provided to its members by proper authority holders of licensed dealers, AIF was not a licensed entity. Following the receipt of several queries regarding the status of AIF, ASIC was concerned the group may have created the impression it held a securities licence in its own right.
AIF says it will apply for its own securities licence. Until this time, it has accepted an enforceable undertaking from ASIC to contact its members offering them a re-fund on their membership fees or, alternatively, transferring their membership to licensed entity Midland Securities Limited.
Recommended for you
The central bank has released its decision on the official cash rate following its November monetary policy meeting.
Melbourne advice firm Hewison Private Wealth has marked four decades of service after making its start in 1985 as a “truly independent advice business” in a largely product-led market.
HLB Mann Judd Perth has announced its acquisition of a WA business advisory firm, growing its presence in the region, along with 10 appointments across the firm’s national network.
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.
