A Brisbane-based financial adviser has been banned from providing financial services for a period of five years for failing his obligations to his insurance and superannuation clients, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced.

Copping the five-year ban was Christopher Ramsay, an employee representative of Westpac Banking Corporation from 2010 to 2015; and an authorised representative of NAB-owned GWM Adviser Services from 2015 to 2017.

ASIC found that in advising his Westpac and GWM clients to switch their insurance and superannuation products, there were times when Ramsay failed to make appropriate inquiries to assess whether the clients’ existing products met their needs; and cases when he gave misleading information to support his recommendations to switch products, LeapRate reported.

There were cases, for instance, when clients were provided with misleading fee-comparison tables in advice documents which suggested the recommended fund was cheaper than their existing fund, when either this was not the case, or when those compared were not of similar fee structures. There were also cases wherein the advice document had a misleading statement which said the client’s existing insurer did not offer income protection insurance, when it did.

Due to Ramsay’s failings, his clients paid significantly more for some products than they had previously paid and had understood they would pay; and in some cases, led their superannuation savings to be reduced without their knowledge, the report said.

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

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