A regular round-up of compliance news, such as fines, permissions, new technology solutions and other developments.

China
China's securities regulator will enhance its crackdown on money laundering, with a string of concrete measures, Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, said yesterday. 

Anti-money laundering will be “further prioritized as it bears much importance for the stable and healthy development of the capital markets”, the agency quoted the China Securities Regulatory Commission as saying.

The CSRC will enhance regulation cooperation and information sharing with the country's central bank, while the regulatory mechanism for anti-money laundering will be improved. Supervision will be increased in terms of market access, anti-money laundering checks and punishment, and efforts will be made to train more experts in the field, the CSRC is reported to have said.

ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has banned Gold Coast advisor Daniel John Renneberg from providing financial services for five years after a surveillance found that he had failed to act in the best interests of his clients.

ASIC reviewed the advice Mr Renneberg had provided to 15 of his clients while he was an authorised representative of Austplan Pty Ltd, the regulator said in a statement late last week. ASIC said it found that Renneberg received referrals from GM Homes Australia Pty to help their clients establish self-managed superannuation funds to purchase an investment property.

Renneberg had not provided the clients with appropriate financial advice or acted in their best interests, ASIC said. 

The regulator has kicked out a number of advisors from the wealth management sector in recent years, part of a broader crackdown on lax standards and, in some cases, outright dishonesty and sharp practice in the Australian financial sector.

“He had advised some clients to set up SMSFs with limited recourse loan arrangements that were completely unsuitable and placed his clients in a vulnerable financial position,” it continued. 

“Renneberg completely failed to consider his clients’ needs, objectives and circumstances. Renneberg also failed to give his clients statements of advice that set out the advice he provided and the information on which he based his advice,” it continued.

“SMSFs are not for everyone and using an SMSF to borrow money and buy a property is a high-risk strategy. ASIC will be looking very carefully at advisors who recommend this strategy and taking swift action where we see problems,” ASIC commissioner Danielle Press said in a statement.

“Financial advisors must not rely solely on client direction when establishing an SMSF. They must adequately demonstrate why an SMSF is appropriate and why it is in their clients’ best interests,” she added.