Former advice firm director cops lengthy ban

The corporate regulator has banned Mark Andrew Cooper of Seven Hills, Queensland from both providing any financial services and controlling an entity that carries a financial services business and performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business for a period of seven and a half years.

Mr Cooper was the sole director of Acquire Strategic Advisers between 27 August 2012 and 4 February 2020, and its chief financial officer during January and February 2022.

In banning Mr Cooper, ASIC found that he engaged in conduct in relation to financial services that was misleading and deceptive.

The regulator also determined that Mr Cooper is “not a fit and proper person and is not adequately trained or competent in relation to financial services”, when between January 2018 and January 2022 he:

• caused or allowed Acquire to collect annual review fees from 240 client self-managed super funds, when those annual reviews had not been undertaken;
• caused or allowed Acquire to fail to have systems in place to ensure that clients received the annual client reviews that they had paid for; and
• failed to ensure that file notes of annual client reviews were uploaded to a document management system within a reasonable time after the review occurred and thus failed to maintain complete, accurate and reliable records.

Mr Cooper’s banning has been recorded on ASIC's Banned and disqualified register. He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

In June, ASIC accepted a court enforceable undertaking from former Acquire Strategic Advisers director and financial adviser Gregory Blackaby.

ASIC found that Mr Blackaby failed to keep adequate and up-to-date records to show he had provided clients with services they were entitled to under ongoing service arrangements.

Under the terms of the undertaking, Mr Blackaby has agreed that he will not carry on a financial services business, provide financial services, or act in a managerial capacity of any entity operating a financial services business or providing legal, accounting or other advisory services to a financial services business.

Mr Blackaby was also an authorised representative of Capstone Financial Planning.