The Turnbull government’s Royal Commission is putting the financial services industry under the spotlight, with many people wondering what to do if they have been a victim of bad financial advice.
Squirrel is a financial technology company that holds an Australian financial services licence (AFSL). ASIC alleges that from around January 2015, Squirrel marketed and sold services helping customers establish and operate self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) to purchase established residential property.
The Australian housing market is currently in a time of downturn, dropping 4.8% in the last year. In context, that’s the most significant fall since the Global Financial Crisis. While a slip in the market will affect many homeowners to some degree, those who have purchased investment property through a self-managed super fund (SMSF) may be especially at risk.
Mr Wilkins was a mortgage broker and helped clients to arrange finance to purchase properties. ASIC found that on five occasions in June and July 2010, Mr Wilkins submitted loan applications on behalf of clients in which he deliberately overstated their savings by between about $130,000 and $179,000.
Mr Dimitropoulos' banning arises from ASIC's ongoing investigation into a property and self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) promoting group, which includes the companies formerly called Heritage Financial Solutions Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) (Heritage Financial Solutions) and Sunpac Finance Pty Ltd (Sunpac Finance).
