ASIC bans former Westpac and NAB adviser

According to the ASIC adviser register, Christopher Ramsay was licensed by Westpac Administration from October 2010 until March 2015, before joining GWM Adviser Services in April 2015, where he stayed until May 2017.

During this time, ASIC said Mr Ramsay “failed in his obligations” when providing advice to clients to switch their superannuation and insurance products.

“In some cases he failed to make appropriate inquiries to assess whether the clients' existing products met the clients' needs. In other cases, ASIC found that Mr Ramsay provided misleading information to support his recommendations for clients to switch products,” the regulator said.

Examples of this “misleading information” included fee comparison tables in advice documents that implied the new fund was cheaper when it was not (or when Mr Ramsay was not comparing similar fee structures), and documents that falsely claimed a clients’ insurance did not provide income protection cover.

“As a consequence of Mr Ramsay's failings, ASIC found that clients paid substantially more for some products than they had previously paid and had understood they would pay,” ASIC said.