AAT upholds MPF licence cancellation

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has affirmed ASIC’s position that the licence cancellation was necessary in order to “protect the public and achieve the purposes of the legislation”, according to a statement from the corporate regulator.

It concluded that Mr Power had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and described his behaviour as reflective of “serious indiscretions”.

In November 2011, ASIC cancelled Mr Power’s licence, and that of his business MPF, due to failures to comply with Corporations Act requirements and “reasonable grounds” to believe the contraventions would continue.

ASIC's investigation into MPF, which was authorised to provide financial product advice among other services, found that Mr Power had made misleading statements about a “potential authorised representative”, had a misleading statement on MPF's website and failed to carry out sufficient background checks on an authorised representative.

In 2014, ASIC also declined to grant an AFSL to related entity Global Financial Markets.

Mr Power has 28 days to appeal the AAT’s decision.