The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has varied ASIC’s decision to permanently ban Todd Karamian from providing financial services and carrying on a financial services business after he falsified his financial adviser exam result.
The AAT varied the banning on 25 June 2024 from permanent to seven years.
ASIC had permanently banned Mr Karamian after finding he altered his Financial Adviser Certificate from a fail to a pass result and sent the altered certificate to his Licensee, Bluepoint Consulting Pty Ltd, which was then subsequently provided to ASIC.
ASIC found that he provided personal advice to 11 retail clients when he was not authorised to do so as he had failed the Financial Adviser exam (23-067MR).
The AAT’s Justice Kyrou noted, ‘In order to uphold the integrity of the industry and those objectives, it is essential that the period of the banning order which is made in relation to the applicant is sufficiently lengthy to convey to others who are in the industry – or aspire to join it – that conduct of the type engaged in by him will result in a lengthy banning period, so as to deter them from engaging in such conduct.’
Factors discussed by Justice Kyrou regarding the banning period include ‘the low risk of the applicant engaging in conduct such as forgery of a document or misleading ASIC in the future; his acceptance of responsibility and remorse; the further study he has undertaken since March 2023; the fact that his conduct did not cause any financial loss to any of his clients; and the fact that, although he benefitted financially from his wrongdoing, his financial benefit was not at the expense of anyone else.’
Background
Since 1 January 2019, financial advisers are required to pass the Financial Advisers exam to able to continue to provide personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products. ASIC’s Financial Advisers Register (FAR) lists all individuals who are authorised to provide personal advice as financial advisers.
ASIC had identified Mr Karamian’s conduct through a proactive review of individuals who were listed as current financial advisers on the Financial Advisers Register despite not having passed the Financial Advisers exam.
Mr Karamian was an authorised representative of Bluepoint Consulting Pty Ltd from 2 August 2004 to 9 March 2023. He was also a director of Bluepoint Consulting Pty Ltd from 1 July 2005 to 15 March 2023.
