The Australian watchdog has imposed a permanent ban on a convicted bank fraudster, preventing him from working in the country's financial services sector.

Australia’s financial regulator has slapped a lifetime ban on a convicted bank fraudster, preventing him from working in the industry.

The ban was imposed on Shaun Gregory Morgan, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said, as a result of a US conviction for serious fraud in 2009.

On 22 December 2009 Morgan pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud in the US District Court, Central District of Utah, involving false claims of being able to raise capital and counterfeit cheques drawn on a fictitious bank. As a consequence, Morgan was sentenced to a term of 60 months' imprisonment and a term of supervised release of 60 months. He was also required to forfeit $1.06 million in cash and stock certificates along with other assets, ASIC said in a statement yesterday.

Morgan, a New Zealand citizen, was the subject of a recent ASIC consumer warning regarding his offering of unlicensed financial services through a number of websites that indicated companies operated by him held Australian financial services (AFS) licences and would raise funds.

The man has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision.