Was this convicted man really a ‘financial adviser’?

In a recent hearing of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services, ASIC was taken to task by Liberal MP Jason Falinski on why it chose to call former Fiscus Capital employee Mark Kawecki, who was fined $30,000 for dishonest conduct in a Melbourne court last month, a “financial adviser” in its media release around Mr Kawecki’s sentencing.

Mr Kawecki was found to have breached ASX listing rules around the number of unrelated shareholders allowed on a share register before company shares can be quoted and traded on the exchange, by providing false information in share applications for four companies undertaking IPOs between 2015 and 2016.

“I think it would be fair to say that referencing that Mr Kawecki was a financial adviser sends a message to consumers that they need to be cautious of people calling themselves financial advisers,” Mr Falinski told ASIC commissioner Danielle Press. 

“My problem with this is Mr Kawecki doesn't appear anywhere on ASIC's AFSL register. He doesn't appear to have ever been registered as a financial adviser or planner, and he certainly doesn't appear on any register going back to 2015-16 when the contraventions took place. 

“Do you think it's worth making it clear that when someone is fined in this nature that they're not a financial adviser, so that we can instil in consumers confidence that when someone sees a financial planner or a financial adviser that they are registered and are subjected to some form of professional conduct and training?”

Responses from ASIC around the circumstances of the release, which Ms Press took on notice at the time, indicate that Mr Kawecki worked under the title of “advisor” when employed at the Melbourne corporate advisory firm during “part of the relevant period of his offending”. 

“Mr Kawecki was an authorised representative contracted to provide financial services on behalf of Fiscus Capital Pty Ltd, the corporate authorised representative of Nexia Corporate Melbourne Pty Ltd, the holder of AFS licence 460701,” ASIC said.

“Nexia’s AFS licence authorised it to provide, among other things, financial product advice to wholesale clients in relation to securities. Fiscus, as Nexia’s corporate authorised representative, was authorised to provide such financial product advice on behalf of Nexia. Fiscus, in turn, authorised Mr Kawecki to provide these services on behalf of Nexia.”

ASIC further stated that restrictions around the use of the words ‘financial adviser’ and ‘financial planner’ had only come into force since the introduction of the FASEA standards in 2019, and as such Mr Kawecki’s categorisation as a “former financial adviser” in the release was valid.

Mr Kawecki had also been listed as a “former certified financial planner” on the Fiscus website, ASIC said.