Mark Jennings has been banned from providing financial services and carrying on a financial services business for 10 years after he advertised guaranteed investment returns and traded Contracts for Difference (CFDs) using client funds when he was not licensed.
In a statement on Tuesday, the corporate regulator explained that Mr Jennings — the former director of Suncoast Trading which collapsed after suffering significant losses trading client monies — subsequently advertised under the name Equity Trade that he could make “50 per cent, 100 per cent or 200 per cent per year, GUARANTEED RETURNS”.
The Equity Trade website also stated that “[our] investments are recession proof, we profit in both rising and falling markets”.
Meanwhile, Suncoast Trading, Equity Trade, and Mr Jennings did not hold the necessary Australian Financial Services licence or authorisation to provide financial services.
The ASIC delegate found that Mr Jennings:
- carried on a financial services business without holding an AFS licence;
- had some clients deposit their funds into his personal trading account and traded CFDs without consulting them;
- made false or misleading statements as the returns were not guaranteed, and there was no genuine basis to make the statement that the trades would be profitable in both rising and falling markets;
- gave false or misleading information to ASIC about the number of Equity Trade’s clients and the extent of losses suffered;
- is not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services; and
- is likely to contravene a financial services law.
The ASIC ban prevents Mr Jennings from providing any financial service, controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business, and performing any function involved in carrying on a financial services business.
I suspect that this is a limitation in the legislation, though I find it bizarre that ASIC, in being responsible for the implementation of the legislation have not the wit to identify this shortfall and seek legislative remedy.
I gues that’s what happens when they don’t care who pays for this nonsense.
How on earth do you actually ban someone from doing something they are not entitled or qualified to do in the first place?
It’s like banning someone from practicing medicine who has never qualified in medicine and is not a Doctor??
It’s simply bizarre!!
This is nothing more than ASIC carving another notch in their belt and sticking their chest out.
The level of disrespect & hatred that advisers have toward ASIC is at stratospheric levels.
….and Michelle Levy wonders why the relationship between advisers & the regulator is so poor.!!….really?
Are licensed advisers ASIC levy going to fund ASIC’s expenses in pursuing this individual and if so what exactly were the costs that ASIC incurred in achieving this outcome.
If advisers are footing the bill for ASIC to pursue non advisers then it is utterly unacceptable on every single level.
Once again an unlicensed “adviser’ gets away without punishment. ASIC are a JOKE. Why is he not fined or at least made to pay some ASIC fees to pay for the work ASIC did uncovering his scam.
Why would anyone want to be a licensed adviser when you can do everything we do but without a license and if you get caught you get in NO TROUBLE AT ALL. Not even a slap on the wrist.
Another Typical, greedy, bad apple, for whom the rest of we Advisers are paying ASIC to find. Oh, but he isn’t even an Adviser, yet we still have to pay?
So no penalty at all? He was unlicensed and the penalty is you can’t have a licence, he acted without one in the first place! So how much did all licensed advisers pay via the compulsory levy for ASIC to waste everyone’s time by obtaining exactly nothing in this process?
OK, so banned for 10 years – then he go back to being unlicensed?
Again, banning someone from providing financial services for 10 years, when they don’t have any qualifications to do so in the first place…. what’s the point?
These ‘bans’ are absurd. If we were to hold ourselves out to be General Practitioners surely we would be prosecuted under a crime not simply banned from being registered as a General Practitioner.
Laughable that you can keep up the pretence for 10 years as well when ‘guaranteeing’ returns. Surely a simple Google search of ‘guaranteed returns’ could take ASIC to the door of a few more ‘unlicensed’ advisers…