ASIC bans Qsmart Securities director for three years
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announces that it has banned Peter Geoffrey Gribble from controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business and performing any function as an officer of an entity carrying on a financial services business for three years.
Mr Gribble was banned after two companies of which he was a director refused or failed to give effect to determinations by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
Mr Gribble was the sole director of former AFS licensee Qsmart Securities Pty Ltd, and a director of AFS licensee Quantum Funds Management Limited.
In 2020, AFCA made a total of seven determinations against Qsmart and Quantum in response to complaints relating to unauthorised trading and disclosure failures, as well as inappropriate financial advice and other misrepresentations provided by credit representatives. These determinations directed those entities to pay consumers a total amount of approximately $2.5 million.
ASIC found that Mr Gribble, as director of Qsmart and Quantum, approached AFCA determinations as if they were open to negotiation, including in some circumstances seeking to persuade complainants to accept less than the determination amounts.
AFCA determinations are not opportunities for negotiation, however.
The banning does not prevent Mr Gribble from seeking to be authorised to provide financial advice.
Mr Gribble has the right to seek a review of ASIC’s decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
AFCA is an external financial services dispute resolution scheme available free of charge for consumers. It considers consumer complaints about financial services, including credit, finance and loans, insurance, banking deposits and payments, investments and financial advice, and superannuation. AFCA is required to resolve complaints in a fair, efficient, timely and independent manner. AFS and Credit licensees must be AFCA members and may be bound by AFCA determinations.