Convicted adviser gets life ban

***updated***

A representative from Titanium Financial Group has contacted ifa, saying the fraudulent activity was only uncovered as a result of an internal investigation.

“We conducted an extensive audit of our planners in 2011 and 12. The investigation revealed some anomalies in a cash management account of a client and that adviser was investigated internally,” the licensee’s representative said.

“As a result, we put a brief together and charged them criminally, and in the antecedence put before the court, we recommended a remediation process so that the client sought restitution.

“During the mediation process, it was granted that the adviser was not incarcerated and he would be subject to a rehabilitation program and pay back the client with interest so they weren’t out of pocket.”

The representative added Titanium runs a “very proactive approach” and “will not tolerate that sort of conduct by anyone.”

"At the end of the day it’s about one thing: the client is not disadvantaged financially," he said.

Joshua John Doyle, formerly an adviser at Gateway Financial Advisors Pty Ltd – an authorised representative of Titanium Planners from 2009 to 2011 – has been permanently banned from providing financial services, an ASIC statement has revealed.

In August 2012, Mr Doyle appeared before the NSW Local Court, pleading guilty to charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage, and was sentenced to an 18-month jail sentence suspended on condition of a good behaviour bond.

An investigation found that Mr Doyle had carried out unauthorised share trading activity using a client’s Macquarie Bank share trading account.

“Mr Doyle then sold down the client's shares without her knowledge, transferred the proceeds to the client's cash management account, before transferring those funds to his own account using forged authorities,” the ASIC statement said.

Titanium merged with Financial Link Group in April to form Beacon Financial Group, which is being headed up by former AFS Group chief executive Peter Daly.