ASIC bans Perth financial adviser

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has banned Peter Jianchao Xu from providing financial services for five years, after surveillance showed Mr Xu providing improper advice to clients.

Mr Xu was an authorised representative of Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's financial planning channel and most recently, Neo Financial Solutions.

ASIC said it had reviewed a sample of Mr Xu’s advice files and found he had failed to comply with financial services laws, including the best interests duty and the requirement to provide appropriate advice.

Mr Xu had repeatedly recommended clients take out a new insurance policy instead of exploring whether it would be beneficial if they remained with or modified their existing policies, ASIC said.

The commission also found Mr Xu had repeatedly failed to consider his clients’ personal circumstances when providing personal insurance advice.

“As a result, Mr Xu’s recommendations are likely to have exposed his clients to the risk of being under-insured,” ASIC said in a notice today.

“When providing personal advice, financial advisers must take their clients’ personal circumstances into account and adequately consider any existing financial products as well as new products before making product-switching recommendations.”

ASIC said the recent ban is part of the commission’s ongoing efforts to improve standards across Australia’s financial services industry.

Mr Xu has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review ASIC’s decision.