The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned financial adviser Andrew Rankin from providing any financial services, controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business, and performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business for four years.

ASIC found Mr Rankin failed to act in the best interests of a number of his clients and gave inappropriate advice while authorised to provide financial advice by Next Generation Advice Pty Ltd (In Liquidation).

The regulator found Mr Rankin recommended clients set up an SMSF and invest most of their retirement savings into the Global Capital Property Fund Limited (in liquidation) (GCPF) and the Pivotal Diversified Fund.

In a review of the advice provided by Mr Rankin, ASIC found Mr Rankin failed to act in the best interests of a number of his clients as he failed to:

• identify the clients’ objectives and needs by accepting a request to establish a SMSF and rollover their current superannuation into the new SMSF, investing the majority of their capital into GCPF and the Pivotal Diversified Fund
• identify the subject matter of advice, and
• conduct a reasonable investigation of the financial products that might meet their needs.

ASIC also found it was not reasonable to conclude the advice Mr Rankin gave was appropriate, had he satisfied the duty to act in the clients’ best interests, because:

• GCPV and Pivotal were both speculative, illiquid investments with no historical return data
• the advice placed clients in more complex and onerous SMSF environments compared to their previous APRA regulated superannuation funds, and
• the advice resulted in significant fee increases.

Mr Rankin’s statements of advice were also found to include projections that were misleading and deceptive.

Clients were referred to Mr Rankin after completing a ‘superannuation health check’ with another Authorised Representative of Next Generation Advice. ASIC found Mr Rankin reasonably ought to have known there was a conflict of interest and jeopardised client retirement savings by facilitating the transfer of most of their savings from APRA regulated funds to highly speculative and illiquid investments in a more complex and onerous SMSF environment.

The banning order took effect from 14 August 2025.

If you are a client of Next Generation Advice and have concerns about the conduct of your adviser or the advice you received, you should consider lodging a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA is the external dispute resolution scheme for financial complaints in Australia and must deal with complaints independently and fairly. AFCA’s service is free for consumers.

AFCA can be contacted by:

• calling 1800 931 678 for free (9am – 5pm Melbourne time), or
• lodging a complaint online on AFCA’s website.

AFCA will consider your complaint if it meets the eligibility criteria.

In cancelling Next Gen’s licence, ASIC required Next Gen to remain a member of AFCA until 17 October 2025. If you intend to lodge a complaint with AFCA in relation to advice received from Next Gen, you should do so by 17 October 2025.