The Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned a Western Australian finance broker as the WA Government announced the terms of reference for the royal commission into finance broking.
The broker, Leon Keith Jamieson of Albany, is the seventh to be picked up by ASIC in the state this year. Jamieson has been permanently banned from providing investment advice or dealing in securities.
ASIC alleges that as the former principal of Leon K Jamieson and Associates, Jamieson failed to carry on his business honestly and fairly and would not do so in the future.
An investigation by ASIC found in some cases that Jamieson gave mortgage investors information that was misleading regarding the benefits and risks of certain mortgage investments. He was also found to have failed to make sufficient enquiries to assess the risks of those investments.
Jamieson’s banning comes on the heels of the WA government announcement of the terms of a $5 million royal commission into the key players making up the state’s finance broking industry.
The inquiry is due to start on June 20 and has been called after thousands of small investors, many of them elderly, lost millions of dollars through questionable pooled mortgage investments.
The inquiry will be headed by Ian Temby QC, who was the Commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1989 to 1994.
WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty says the royal commission will investigate alleged unlawful or improper activities or practices relating to the finance broking industry since January 1, 1994.
McGinty says 17 projects have been earmarked for extensive investigation but the royal commission would not be restricted to these projects.
The inquiry will investigate the conduct of finance brokers, borrowers and those who provided services to them and to lenders. This included people such as financial advisers, accountants, auditors, bankers and lawyers.
