The broker knowingly made a false statement to the regulator
Advanced Choice Finance Pty Ltd (AFC), a former Melbourne mortgage brokerage company, has been slapped with a $4,000 fine for knowingly making a false statement to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.
ACF made the false statement in a credit licence annual compliance certificate, ASIC said.
Ding Yang, the former director of ACF, was found to have aided and abetted the company in making the false statement. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to be on good behaviour for two years. He was not convicted of an offence.
Yang had his lender accreditation with the Bank of Melbourne terminated in July of 2012. In April 2016, Yang and ACF had their membership with aggregator Connective OSN Pty Ltd terminated, according to ASIC.
Australian credit licence holders are required to identify the people involved in managing their credit business, known as fit and proper people, according to ASIC.
In January 2017, on behalf of ACF, Yang completed and lodged a credit licence annual compliance certificate with ASIC, in which he falsely certified that none of ACF’s fit and proper people had had their accreditation cancelled by a lender or their membership with an aggregator terminated. Yang himself was the sole fit and proper person and manager on the licence.
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The false statement was a violation of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral from ASIC.
In February, Yang confirmed that he was pleading guilty to the offence, both in his personal capacity and on behalf of ACF.
Ryan Smith is currently an executive editor at Key Media, where he started as a journalist in 2013. He has since he worked his way up to managing editor and is now an executive editor. He edits content for several B2B publications across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. He also writes feature content for trade publications for the insurance and mortgage industries.LinkedIn | Email
