ASIC has banned Mr Stuart Arnold-Levy from providing financial services for a period of four years and Mr David Heycock from providing financial services for a period of six years following an investigation.

Mr Heycock was the director of Corporate Superannuation Pty Ltd (previously Australian Superannuation Pty Ltd and Superannuation in Australia Today Pty Ltd) which traded under the business name MySuperMan. Mr Arnold-Levy was an employee of Corporate Superannuation Pty Ltd (and its predecessor entities) before subsequently becoming the director.

The MySuperMan business provided financial advice services and operated from offices in Carlton, Victoria.

ASIC's investigation focused on the period 2013 – 2015 and identified concerns in relation to the activities of Mr Heycock and Mr Arnold-Levy including:

• poor and unlicensed advice provided by them to certain clients;
• money loaned to clients of MySuperMan by entities related to Mr Heycock, and money loaned by clients' self managed superannuation funds to the MySuperMan business itself; and
• information and advice provided to clients and former clients in relation to a residential property development in Footscray, Victoria.

As a result of the investigation, ASIC found that Mr Heycock had breached the Corporations Act by:

• operating a financial services business and providing financial advice without holding an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence and without being authorised by an AFS licence holder to do so; and
• providing financial advice that was not in clients' best interests or appropriate for their situation, failing to provide statements of advice and failing to disclose potentially conflicted remuneration.

ASIC also found that Mr Arnold-Levy had breached the Corporations Act by:

• being aware of and involved in Mr Heycock's unlicensed conduct; and
• providing financial advice that was not in clients' best interests and not appropriate for their circumstances.

Mr Arnold-Levy and Mr Heycock each have the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

Background

ASIC commenced an investigation after it received a breach notification from Dover Financial Advisers.

Until suspended on 28 March 2014, David Heycock and Stuart Arnold-Levy were both Authorised Representatives of Charter Financial Limited, a subsidiary of AMP Group.

Additionally, Superannuation in Australia Today Pty Ltd was until 28 March 2014 a Corporate Authorised Representative of Charter Financial Limited.

Wealth Management Project

This outcome is a result of ASIC's Wealth Management Project. The Wealth Management Project was established in October 2014 with the objective of lifting standards by major financial advice providers. The Wealth Management Project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, AMP and Macquarie).

ASIC's work in the Wealth Management Project covers a number of areas including:

1. Working with the largest financial advice firms to address the identification and remediation of non-compliant advice; and
2. Seeking regulatory outcomes when appropriate against Licensees and advisers.

As part of its Wealth Management Project, ASIC has banned 26 advisers (in addition to Mr Arnold-Levy and Mr Heycock) from the financial services industry.