ASIC has banned Mark Bringans, the former responsible manager of over-the-counter derivatives provider Sirius Financial Markets Pty Ltd (Sirius Financial), for eight years.
Mr Bringans’ banning follows an ASIC investigation into Sirius Financial (trading as ‘Trade360’), which found that Sirius Financial acted unconscionably and breached its Australian financial services licence obligations when it failed to address the conduct of Toyga Media Ltd (Toyga), an off-shore call centre it hired to source clients to trade in its high-risk contracts-for-difference and margin foreign exchange contracts.
ASIC’s investigation found that Toyga engaged in pressure selling tactics and provided personal advice on behalf of Sirius Financial when it was unlicensed to do so.
In banning Mr Bringans, ASIC found that he is not adequately trained and competent, that he is not a fit and proper person to provide financial services, and that he ignored one of his key duties as a responsible manager, which was to ensure that Sirius Financial complied with the financial services laws.
ASIC also determined that Mr Bringans was a disinterested, disengaged responsible manager who did little more than attend monthly compliance committee meetings.
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Mr Bringans’ banning is recorded on ASIC’s Banned and Disqualified Persons Register.
Mr Bringans has applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for a review of ASIC’s decision. His application for a stay of the implementation of the banning order was refused by the AAT.
