ASIC has accepted an enforceable undertaking (EU) from former Commonwealth Financial Planning (CFP) adviser Christopher Baker.
Baker, from Croydon in Sydney, said he would not provide financial services in any capacity for a minimum of five years, after he failed to meet various obligations as a financial adviser.
In addition to agreeing not to provide financial services in any capacity for a minimum of five years, Baker has also undertaken to complete appropriate professional education requirements and must adhere to supervision requirements for six months should he decide to re-enter the financial services industry.
The EU follows an investigation into the advice provided by several of CFP's financial advisers.
Between 1 March 2005 and 27 February 2009, Baker was found to have not properly completed a number of CFP's financial needs analysis documents.
Baker failed to determine the relevant personal circumstances and failed to make reasonable inquiries in relation to the personal circumstances of clients before implementing advice.
He also had a large proportion of clients who were profiled with aggressive risk profiles and provided property asset allocations to clients that were far above the recommended asset allocation for their risk profile.
Baker failed to provide a statement of advice (SOA) to clients when he was required to do so, and failed to include a replacement product advice record in an SOA.
The EU follows the investigations of other CFP advisers, including Simon Langton and Don Nguyen.
ASIC accepted an EU from Langton in January this year in which he said he would not provide financial advice for two years, while the regulator banned Nguyen in March last year from providing financial services for seven years.
The regulator's actions reflected its commitment to ensuring financial advisers met required standards to maintain consumer confidence in the financial services system, it said.
On 25 October 2011, ASIC accepted an EU from CFP requiring it to conduct a comprehensive review of its risk management framework and develop a plan to address any deficiencies in that framework.
Further, where clients are found to have been adversely impacted by the conduct of representatives, CFP will consider the circumstances and appropriately remediate the client.
CFP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and operates under the advice structure of Colonial First State, which is also part of CBA.
