Australian Securities & Investments Commission v Park Trent Properties Group Pty Ltd (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1767

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Australian Securities & Investments Commission v Park Trent Properties Group Pty Ltd (No 4) [2015] NSWSC 1767 Hearing dates: On the papers, last written submissions 12 November 2015 Date of orders: 27 November 2015 Decision date: 27 November 2015 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Sackville AJA Decision: 1. Declare pursuant to s 1101B(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) that the defendant (Park Trent), throughout the period from March 2010 until the date of the trial, contravened s 911A(1) of the Corporations Act in that it carried on the business of providing financial services, namely financial product advice, by making recommendations or statements of opinion intended to influence persons (or which could reasonably be regarded as intended to have such an influence) in making a decision to acquire, vary or dispose of a superannuation interest within the meaning of the Superannuation Investment (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act), without holding an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) covering the provision of the financial services, and did so by: (a) making recommendations and stating opinions to persons attending Seminars conducted or arranged by Park Trent that they should establish their own Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) (of which they would be members) in order to invest in real property, transfer the whole or part of their current superannuation balances to the newly established SMSF and invest in real property through their own SMSF; (b) making recommendations and stating opinions of the kind referred to in (a) to persons (clients) who attended home visits or run meetings conducted or arranged by Park Trent, such recommendations and statements of opinion being made by employees or persons contracted to Park Trent or employees or persons contracted to other companies within the Park Trent Group; (c) making recommendations and stating opinions referred to in (a) by presenting clients who attended run meetings conducted or arranged by Park Trent with Property Investment Analyses (PIAs) incorporating projections as to financial returns, prepared on the basis that the clients would establish or use SMSFs to invest in real property; and (d) facilitating the establishment of SMSFs by clients, the transfer of clients' superannuation accounts or balances to the newly established SMSFs and the completion of the purchase of investment properties through the SMSFs.