A former insurance company director has been banned from providing financial services for two years after obtaining more than $400,000 of clients' money without their permission.
An ASIC investigation into the activities of Craig John Horsell of Adelaide found that between 7 September 2007 and 4 May 2010 he acted dishonestly and breached financial services law.
The investigation found Horsell breached the law when he authorised the transfers of 72 insurance premium payments from clients totalling $409,635.24 into his bank account but did not purchase the insurance products as requested by the clients.
Horsell was an employee and a director of insurance businesses Horsell International Pty Ltd (HIPL) and PSC Horsell Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd (PHIB) between 22 January 2007 and 23 July 2010.
Horsell's actions could have had a detrimental impact on a client if an event giving rise to a loss had occurred while they were uninsured, an ASIC statement said.
"ASIC banned Mr Horsell in order to protect the public, deter similar conduct and maintain consumer confidence in the financial services sector," it said.
Meanwhile, HIPL and/or PHIB have recovered all outstanding funds from Horsell.
All insurance covers that were suspected of either being fabricated or compromised by his conduct have been placed or reinstated so that no clients have faced any financial losses.
Horsell's conduct was brought to ASIC's attention by HIPL which cooperated fully with ASIC's investigation.
He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.
