The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld the decision of the corporate regulator, ASIC, to ban WA financial adviser Jason Sean Atkins from providing financial services for three years.

Mr Atkins provided advice to clients about establishing a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), and using borrowing arrangements within those funds to purchase property.

“The detriment and potential loss caused to the clients is potentially very serious. The applicant facilitated a high-risk investment strategy for the clients whereby all of the clients were in a worse financial position than if they had done nothing and not followed his advice,” said senior member at the AAT Dr Michelle Evans.

“The clients were also left in the disadvantageous position of having a single property as the sole asset in their superannuation funds, leaving them in a precarious position, for instance: if the market were to drop; if the property were to be un-tenanted; or if the clients otherwise have cash flow problems, such as in the case of a redundancy.”

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