Weeks after it canceled the AFS license of Forex CT, ASIC has banned its former employee Steven Marsh for three years. He will not be allowed to provide financial services for three years under the new order.
Ban comes after Forex CT issue
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Marsh will not be banned from providing financial services for a period of three years. His ban comes a month after his previous employer, Forex CT, got its Australian Financial Services (AFS) license canceled. The firm issued over the counter (OTC) derivatives.
The firm’s license was canceled after ASIC determined that its business model disregarded the key obligations necessary for an AFS licensee. As a result, the firm engaged in unconscionable, deceptive, and misleading conduct. At the same time, it also failed to manage the conflict of interests.
Marsh’s history with the firm
Marsh was an account manager in the company between February 2018 and March 20, 2019. He interacted with the clients related to their trades in margin forex exchange contracts and contracts for differences (CFD) derivatives. During his time at the firm, he did not comply with the financial services law. He has neither trained adequately nor was competent to provide financial services. The regulator also suggested that he is not a fit and proper person to provide clients financial services.
ASIC said,
“ASIC also found Mr. Marsh engaged in unconscionable conduct. This included engaging in high-pressure sales strategies and unfair practices in order to encourage clients to make deposits or delay or cancel client requests to withdraw their own funds from their trading accounts.”
He made several misleading representations to his clients, which included the claims that he made profits while trading with the firm. He did this despite the fact that CFDs are high risk and extremely speculative in nature. He also told the firm’s clients that if they made higher deposits into their trading accounts, their risks of incurring trade losses will also be reduced. In reality, this would expose clients to more risks of losses of funds.
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