Five-year ban for Perth adviser

The corporate watchdog has banned Perth-based financial adviser Philip Leake from providing financial services for the next five years after he was found to have given poor advice to a number of clients.

The outcome is part of a broader investigation by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission into life insurance advice.

Mr Leake worked for Wealthsure Financial Services from 2015 until January this year, and the Asic investigation revealed a number of concerns with his operations.

“Asic's surveillance of Mr Leake found that he had not considered his clients' circumstances and what life insurance coverage they may need, nor their ability to pay for the insurance he recommended,” Asic said in a statement.

“Mr Leake failed to make a reasonable assessment of which life insurance products might be best suited to his clients' needs.

“Asic also found that Mr Leake made false and misleading statements in his statements of advice, claiming to have considered his clients' circumstances in relation to the waiting periods for income protection policies when he had not.”

Asic said it had looked at a number of Mr Leake's client files as part of its surveillance.

Its life insurance investigation was established in August 2016.

Under the project, Asic receives reports from life insurers that list the names of advisers who meet specific thresholds relating to lapsed policies.

The group then analyses these reports and other data to identify a group of high-risk advisers.

The 'high-risk list' enables Asic to target its surveillance activity.