ASIC has banned Gold Coast-based advisers, Trent Allan and Fabrizio Urrutia, from providing any financial services for five years.
A statement from the regulator says it found that Allan and Urrutia had not complied with financial services laws and “…ASIC has reason to believe that they are not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services”.
The statement notes that Allan and Urrutia were authorised representatives of Australian financial services licensee Financial Masterplan from 24 June 2016 until 25 May 2021. They were also involved in the activities of Vision Wealth Group, a corporate authorised representative of Financial Masterplan.
ASIC states that Vision Wealth established a website called Australian Super Search, which was used to attract clients by helping them find their lost super through the Australian Tax Office’s free service.
…the search results were used … to provide clients with superannuation consolidation and insurance advice…
It says the search results were used by Allan and Urrutia to provide clients with superannuation consolidation and insurance advice, and a number of clients were signed up to an ongoing service arrangement.
ASIC adds that Allan and Urrutia provided advice “…without a thorough investigation of the clients’ needs and objectives. In many cases, they did not make adequate enquiries about their clients’ existing superannuation and insurance products. Their advice also failed to provide appropriate reasoning for recommending the replacement of existing products”.
The regulator says it found that, in providing this advice, Allan and Urrutia “…failed to act in the best interests of their clients and prioritised their own interests over their clients’ interests. ASIC also found that advice documents, comparing the existing and recommended products, were materially misleading”.
