ob体育 has permanently banned Perth-based adviser Phillip Emidio Bruni from providing financial services.
This follows an ob体育 surveillance of advice provided by Mr Bruni when he was an authorised representative of Westpac and The Financiallink Group.
In the course of the surveillance, ob体育 became aware that Mr Bruni had been dishonest and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct including by retrospectively creating advice documents and reproducing a client鈥檚 signature.
ob体育 reviewed meta data from Mr Bruni鈥檚 advice documents and found that in response to statutory notices, Mr Bruni had created replicas of statements of advice documents that he was required by law to create and retain but had not.
Additionally, Mr Bruni attempted to cover up his failure to obtain a signed 鈥榓uthority to proceed鈥� from a client. He copied and pasted his client鈥檚 signature from a 鈥榝act-find鈥� document (which outlines a client鈥檚 circumstances and needs) without the client鈥檚 consent or approval.
Mr Bruni did not tell his licensee or ob体育 that the documents produced to ob体育 were not copies of original documents. He only admitted to creating the replica documents and the 鈥榓uthority to proceed鈥� when questioned by ob体育.
ob体育鈥檚 review also found that Mr Bruni had failed to give appropriate advice or provide advice documents to his clients. He also failed to act in the best interests of his clients or to prioritise their interests.
When providing advice, Mr Bruni did not objectively assess the information provided by his clients or tailor his recommendations to their circumstances. For example, in relation to property investment through an SMSF, Mr Bruni did not make adequate inquiries to assess if an SMSF was indeed appropriate or whether his client could undertake the role of an SMSF trustee.聽
Additionally, Mr Bruni could not demonstrate that he had investigated alternative products or strategies that could help his clients achieve their goals. He also failed to provide information to his clients about the costs, benefits and consequences of his recommendations, which would have helped them make better informed decisions.
ob体育 Commissioner, Danielle Press said, 鈥渙b体育鈥檚 decision reflects our expectation that financial advisers uphold the attributes of honesty and professionalism in their work.聽
鈥淧roviding false evidence to ob体育 under any circumstances is a breach of the law and will not be tolerated. ob体育 expects advisers to adhere to the law at all times and meet their obligations of providing appropriate advice that is in the best interests of their clients鈥� Ms Press said.
The banning of Mr Bruni is part of ob体育鈥檚 ongoing efforts to improve standards across the financial services industry. It will be recorded on ob体育's publicly available and the Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
ob体育's MoneySmart website has useful information for consumers about , including how to complain about a financial adviser and what to do if their .
Background
Mr Bruni鈥檚 banning is part of ob体育's Wealth Management Project, which focuses on the conduct of Australia鈥檚 largest financial advice licensees 鈥� NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Macquarie and AMP. ob体育 was notified of Mr Bruni鈥檚 misconduct by Westpac.
As part of its Wealth Management Project, ob体育 has banned 55 advisers and one director from the financial services industry. Four bannings are the subject of appeal.
Mr Bruni has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ob体育鈥檚 decision.