The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned Mr Jeffery James Meads, formerly from Auburn, NSW, from providing any financial services, and has prohibited him from managing corporations for two and a half years.

ASIC permanently banned Mr Meads from providing any financial service after:

• finding that he was an undischarged bankrupt and that he may not comply with the financial services laws. He became a bankrupt in October 2003 after a debtor’s petition,
• being satisfied that the findings of the Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) were significant,
• accepting the ICAA findings that he placed himself in a position where his objectivity would or could be impaired through the promotion to clients of investment schemes in which he had a financial interest, and
• accepting the ICAA findings that he did not deal quickly with client concerns and did not maintain adequate controls over their accounts.

ASIC also banned Mr Meads from managing corporations for two and a half years without leave of the court after finding that he failed to exercise reasonable care and diligence when managing five companies.

‘It is essential that participants in the financial services industry do not place themselves in positions where their own financial interests conflict with the interests of their clients. It is also vital that they deal quickly with client concerns and maintain adequate controls over their accounts’, said Mr Allen Turton, Deputy Executive Director of Enforcement.

Mr Meads has the right to lodge an application for review of ASIC’s decisions with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.