The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned Anthony Bishop of Chelmer, Queensland, from providing financial services for eight years.

The ban came about as a result of ASIC’s Wealth Management Project, which was established in October 2014 with the objective of lifting standards by major financial advice providers.

ASIC found that during the period July 2010 to April 2014, when he was an employee representative of Westpac Financial Consultants Ltd (a part of the Westpac Banking Corporation), Bishop was involved in the provision of inappropriate advice to clients and also involved in the failure to provide one client with a written statement of advice.

ASIC found that Bishop implemented a “one size fits all” advice strategy that didn’t tailor advice to clients’ personal and financial circumstances and led to clients being overinsured with inappropriate level of premiums.

Bishop was also found to have made one misrepresentation concerning tax savings and to not be competent to provide financial services.

ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell says: “Advice needs to be tailored to the client’s needs and circumstances, and an advice provider must not lose sight of the needs of their client.”

Bishop’s behaviour was originally reported to ASIC in May 2014.

A customer remediation process was undertaken and 29 former clients were paid a total of $1,127,543 made up of advice fees, refunds of premiums for inappropriate advice and market loss relating to investments.

The Wealth Management Project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, AMP and Macquarie).

The project covers a number of areas including:

• Working with the largest financial advice firms to address the identification and remediation of non-compliant advice
• Seeking regulatory outcomes, when appropriate, against licensees and advisers.

The following advisers from the financial services industry have been banned as part of the Wealth Management Project, in addition to Bishop:

Rommel Panganiban

Anthony Jason Sourris

Sarah Kate Gardner

Nicholas Kerr

Craig Scott Miller

Wayne Meadth

Hardik Bhimani

Gerard McCormack

Shane Thompson

Ben Rickman

Ben Cheung

Mark Tidbury

Amanda Ritchie

Stuart Murray Jamieson

Sharnie Kent

Alfie Chong

Martin Hodgetts

Shawn Hickman

Brett O’Malley

Brian Farber

Rebecca Locksley

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