ASIC has permanently banned Queensland financial adviser Mr Warren Scott Acworth from providing financial services.

The banning follows an ASIC investigation into Mr Acworth’s conduct between December 2015 and May 2018 while working as an adviser with Macquarie Equities Limited.

The conduct concerned trading Mr Acworth undertook on behalf of a client in MINI warrants (a form of derivative). 

ASIC found Mr Acworth had engaged in misleading conduct relating to a financial product and was dishonest in that he:

• misrepresented to his client the value of the client’s portfolio on 19 separate occasions;
• engaged in trading without proper authority of the client; and
• transferred $185,000 between the client’s accounts without authority.

Based on his conduct, ASIC also found Mr Acworth is not of good fame and character to provide financial services.

Mr Acworth’s banning is recorded on ASIC’s Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.

Mr Acworth has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

Background

The banning of Mr Acworth is part of ASIC's Wealth Management Project. The Wealth Management Project was established in October 2014 to lift the standards of major financial advice providers. The Wealth Management Project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ and AMP).

A MINI warrant is a form of derivative in that it derives its value from another asset which is commonly referred to as the ‘underlying instrument’ or ‘reference asset’. The underlying instrument of a MINI warrant may be, among other things, a share, a share price index (including the S&P/ASX 200 Index), a currency or a commodity.