The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has imposed an eight-year ban from providing financial services on a former mortgage broker and property spruiker based on the Sunshine Coast.
Christine Betty Childs, former director of Think Money and Think Money Wealth Through Property, was banned by the regulator after it found she was carrying on a financial services business without being properly licensed.
Specifically, Childs was recommending individuals acquire property through the superannuation system and in order to execute the strategy advised clients to establish an SMSF and roll their existing retirement savings balances into it.
ASIC deemed this to be misleading and deceptive conduct as the people who followed Childs’ suggestion were under the impression she was licensed to provide these services.
Further, the regulator found she failed to follow a determination from the Australian Financial Complaints Tribunal to pay one of Think Money’s customer’s financial compensation.
It also established she played a significant role in actions that caused Think Money creditors to suffer losses and damages due to a reduced pool of funds available for distribution when the organisation entered liquidation. In particular, she was found to have manufactured this outcome through the disposal of the company’s trail book of commissions.
As a result of the ban, Childs is now prevented not only from providing financial services for eight years, but also from controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business and performing any function involved in carrying on a financial services business.
She has the right to appeal ASIC’s decision via the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Her banning has been recorded on the ASIC banned and disqualified register.
Think Money Pty Ltd was placed into external administration on 11 November 2020 and the same action was taken against Think Money Wealth Through Property Pty Ltd on 20 July 2017.
