12-259MR ASIC bans Adelaide financial adviser for three years
Monday 29 October 2012
ASIC has banned Mr Alec Khoo, of Adelaide, South Australia, from providing financial services for three years after he failed to comply with financial services laws.
Mr Khoo was an authorised representative of Professional Investment Services Pty Ltd and provided financial advice to clients of his business known as Alec Khoo & Associates.
ASIC found that Mr Khoo failed to have a reasonable basis for advice that clients borrow funds through a margin lending facility and invest a substantial portion of those funds in cash investments for up to three years. This advice resulted in a significant portion of the clients' investment portfolio making a loss as the interest paid on the borrowed funds was higher than the interest earned on the cash investments.
ASIC also found that Mr Khoo failed to provide statements of advice to clients when required to do so.
Further, Mr Khoo failed to include mandatory information about margin lending facilities in statements of advice and also provided a statement of advice to a client which contained information that was likely to mislead.
Mr Khoo has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
ASIC Website: Printed 05/25/2013
