ASIC bans SMSF financial adviser
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned Queensland financial adviser, James Cribb, from providing financial services for four years, and suspended his Australian financial services licence.
Following an investigation, ASIC found that Cribb failed to act in his clients’ best interests when providing advice on self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).
The corporate regulator also found that Cribb prioritised his own interests over those of his clients, by providing advice that was likely to benefit other entities related to him, and found that he failed to:
- Investigate the individual circumstances of his clients;
- Adequately investigate alternative strategies and products that may have been suitable for his clients’ objectives; and
- Prioritise his clients’ interests over his own.
Cribb’s AFS licence, which was held by Mode AFSL Pty Ltd, was also suspended for 10 weeks after ASIC found that Mode had failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that its representatives complied with financial services laws.
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