AAT decision puts past offenders on notice

5 March 2019
| By Hannah |
image
image
expand image

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld a decision from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to refuse Superannuation Warehouse Australia’s (SWA’s) application for a limited Australian financial services licence (AFSL), after its director failed to disclose past offences.

The AAT based the finding on SWA’s sole director and nominated responsible manager, Johann Heinrich Preller, failing to:

  • Demonstrate an adequate understanding of the general obligations that would apply to a licensee; and
  • Disclose matters that the AAT considered materially relevant, including telling ASIC of past breaches of other laws.

In the decision, the AAT considered information referred to ASIC by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) about the audits of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) completed by Preller. While this information was provided to ASIC after the hearing had closed, the AAT agreed with ASIC that it was relevant to the licence decision and so should be considered.

“These decisions reinforce the importance of providing full and frank disclosures to ASIC and the weight placed on an applicant’s past conduct in financial services or under other legislation in determining a licence application,” ASIC executive director of assessment and intelligence, Warren Day, said of the decision.

“Applicants, and anyone else involved in preparing and lodging applications with ASIC, are on notice that a failure to disclose all relevant information runs the risk of the application being refused.”

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

11 months ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

11 months 1 week ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

11 months 1 week ago

Jim Chalmers has defended changes to the Future Fund’s mandate, referring to himself as a “big supporter” of the sovereign wealth fund, amid fierce opposition from the Co...

1 day 6 hours ago

Demand from institutional investors was the main driver of growth in Australia’s responsible investment (RI) market in 2023, as the industry continued to gain momentum....

1 day 6 hours ago

In a new review of the country’s largest fund, a research house says it’s well placed to deliver attractive returns despite challenges....

1 day 7 hours ago