Sydney broker Bradley Lofts found himself caught in a bizarre coincidence last week when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) permanently banned a Queensland financial adviser of the same name.

The regulator says Bradley John Lofts, a director of McLofts, which traded as Sterling Financial Strategies from offices in Townsville, Ayr and Brisbane, gave inappropriate and unreasonable advice to 50 clients without determining their personal circumstances.

Realising its publication of the information could cause problems for AIIB Insurance Brokers director Bradley Gordon Lofts, ASIC’s Brisbane office contacted him in advance of the announcement to warn him.

“They included our middle names to avoid any potential confusion,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “They were pretty good about it all.”

“They also offered to speak to anyone who might have had questions about who was actually banned. That was nice of them.” 

ASIC says that on 33 occasions Bradley John Lofts sold shares on behalf of clients without being licensed or authorised to do so.

He was an authorised representative of Lionsgate Financial Group from October 15 2010 to January 19 last year, and for 10 days in June last year was an authorised representative of major financial advice group Synchron.