The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has banned Perth financial planner Darren Horner from acting as a representative of a dealer or an investment adviser for three years. The ban follows an ASIC investigation into the operations of Perth-based Securinvest Accounting Services, which represented itself as a financial planning business. The company promoted and sold interests in tax-effective investments schemes, which allowed investors to borrow the entire amount of the investment and repay the loan from their anticipated tax returns.

Mr Horner allegedly made false and misleading statements to investors in a bid to secure sales, and falsely led clients to believe he was a representative of a securities business. The regulator says he failed to perform his duties “honestly and fairly”, and it has no reason to believe he will perform these duties properly in the future.

ASIC says Mr Horner gave advice on products he shouldn’t have and that he didn’t have a reasonable basis for making the recommendations. It says he also failed to give “proper consideration of his clients’ financial situation, objectives and risk profile”.