The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned a New South Wales solicitor and accountant from providing financial services after it found he provided advice about setting up SMSFs and rolling funds into them without holding an Australian financial services (AFS) licence.
ASIC stated it banned Christopher Malcolm Edwards, who operates as a sole trader in Richmond, NSW, under the name Christopher M Edwards Solicitors and Accountants (Business), from providing financial services for 10 years.
Edwards, who is also a registered tax agent, registered SMSF auditor and registered real estate agent, is also banned from controlling, whether alone or with others, an entity that carries on a financial services business and from performing any functions involved in the carrying on of such a business over the same period.
The corporate watchdog stated it imposed the ban given Edwards carried on a financial services business without an AFS licence and arranged for clients to establish SMSFs, roll over funds into them and invest in debentures issued by companies he controlled.
Following a review of clients, ASIC found Edwards had provided financial product advice over a four-year period and the repetition and continuity of that work meant he carried on a financial services business without holding a licence or authorisation from an AFS licensee.
It added his conduct in making recommendations to his accounting and legal clients that they invest in companies he controlled was particularly serious and there was an inherent and significant conflict of interest.
This came from his obligations to them as a solicitor and/or accountant and his personal interest in securing funding for his companies for property developments in NSW and Queensland under deeds of arrangement, which promised to return any invested capital with interest.
In imposing the ban, the regulator added Edwards was not a fit and proper person to provide financial services, perform functions as an officer of and/or control an entity that carried on a financial services business, did not have the judgment, skill or character to participate in the Australian financial services industry and was likely to contravene a financial services law.
It stated while its investigation into Edwards was continuing, his ban took effect from 15 September and had been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.
He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a review of the decision.
