ASIC has permanently banned former Tricom Futures Services client adviser Roy Ho from providing financial services.
Tricom Futures Services is now known as Stonebridge Futures Services.
An ASIC investigation found that between January and October 2008, Ho used nine clients' trading accounts at Stonebridge to place buy and sell orders for shares on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) without permission from the authorised signatories to the accounts.
ASIC's investigation found that in one instance, Ho continued to trade on accounts operated by one Stonebridge client despite being asked by the client to stop and agreeing not to trade any further.
Ho further breached the Corporations Act when several entries he made in the order system misled Stonebridge and when he falsified order entries in Stonebridge's order system, indicating he had received instructions from clients regarding the trading when he had not.
ASIC commissioner Belinda Gibson said the case highlights the issue of unauthorised trading in the broking industry.
"Some cases involving a number of clients and falsification of records are readily identifiable as serious breaches of the Corporations Act and brokers' obligations to their clients," she said.
"However, the law is broken even in situations where a broker is making trading decisions where there is a belief that the unauthorised trading is in the best interests of their client. Both are unacceptable."
Gibson said ASIC intends to focus on this issue more when it assumes responsibility for market supervision later this year.
ASIC's investigation into Ho followed a referral from the ASX.
