AAT reduces advisers’ bans by 8.5 years
Two former Macquarie financial advisers have seen their banning periods imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reduced, following a successful appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Mark Alexander Landau and Marcus Roderick Campbell both had their ban from ASIC’s Financial Services and Credit Panel reduced from 10 years to 18 months, after the AAT found, amongst other reasons, that none of their clients nor Macquarie suffered loss from their misconduct.
The misconduct that both advisers were found guilty of involved falsifying email exchanges with clients and saving those emails to Macquarie’s central system for recording client advice, and entering false transaction records into Macquarie’s order management system.
The AAT found that these actions were dishonest and misleading or deceptive, breaching section 1041H of the Corporations Act.
However, the Tribunal found that the lack of loss stemming from the conduct, as well as the misconduct involving isolated incidents and not being for personal gain, meant that the ban could be reduced. It was also satisfied that neither of them would engage in similar misconduct in the future.
ASIC said it was currently considering the AAT’s decision.
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