ASIC bans Commonwealth Financial Planning employee

ASIC has banned Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited (CFPL) employee Rebecca Locksley from providing financial services for 18 months, after finding she created false documents for client files.

Ms Locksley of Merewether, New South Wales, was the servicing planner of banned former CFPL adviser Jade Zaicew from 2011 to 2012.

ASIC's investigation found Ms Locksley engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct between February 2012 and May 2012 when preparing documents for Mr Zaicew's files.

Ms Locksley prepared file notes containing fictional conversations between Mr Zaicew and his clients to give the impression that the files were in proper order and that Mr Zaicew had given advice to the clients in accordance with the law.

While Mr Zaicew was suspended from CFPL, Ms Locksley also prepared and backdated around 40 other documents, including records of advice, to give the impression they had been prepared at the time of the client transactions.

Ms Locksley has a right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.

Background

In April 2014 ASIC banned Mr Zaicew from from engaging in credit activities and providing financial services for a period of seven years (refer: 14-068MR).

Mr Zaicew's banning followed a number of actions against former CFPL financial advisers Ricky Gillespie (refer: 12-269MR), Joe Chan (refer: 12-111MR), Anthony Awkar (refer: 12-81MR), Jane Duncan (refer: 12-80MR), Christopher Baker (refer: 12-63AD), Simon Langton (refer: 12-02AD), and Don Nguyen (refer: 11-42AD).