ASIC bans financial adviser Frederick Ackerman from Pure Strategy for four years

The corporate watchdog has banned the boss of a failed Queensland financial planning firm for not acting in the best interest of clients.

ASIC has banned Frederick Steve Ackerman for four years.

The corporate regulator has banned a Queensland financial adviser from the sector for four years after it found he had failed to act in the best interests of clients.

Frederick Steve Ackerman, who served as the sole director of a firm called Pure Strategy, will not be able to provide financial services or perform any function involved in the financial services business for the period of the ban imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

David Hambleton from Rodgers Reidy was appointed voluntary administrator of 14-year-old Pure Strategy earlier this month.

ASIC found that Ackerman had failed at times to identify his clients’ relevant objectives, financial situation or needs, conduct a reasonable investigation and assessment of financial products and place his clients in a better position were they to follow his advice.

ASIC found that Ackerman was neither a competent or a fit and proper person to provide a financial service.

The ban has been recorded on ASIC’s publicly available Financial Advisers Register and Banned and Disqualified Persons Register. Ackerman has the right to seek a review of ASIC’s decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

ASIC also has cancelled Pure Strategy’s financial services licence effective from September 16 due to its failure to comply with its general obligations. The watchdog found that Pure Strategy had failed to have adequate resources to carry out a financial services business.

ASIC banned 70 people from providing financial services or credit in the first six months of the year.

VERY BUOYANT

The Gold Coast may have taken a billion-dollar hit to its tourism sector due to Covid-19 but there is one bright spot on the glitter strip.

Workers at Coomera-based luxury motor yacht builder Riviera are run off their feet amid surging demand from the well-heeled around the globe for a home-away-from-home on the water.

Riviera last week loaded seven yachts, worth $20m, onto a ship bound for the US in its biggest ever shipment to the world’s biggest economy. The yachts, including its new 645 SUV model, will arrive in time for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show next month.

About 50 vessels are currently being built at the company’s shipyard, which employs almost 900 people. The company’s performance is a rare bright spot for the Gold Coast economy that has lost billions in tourism dollars amid border closures and flight bans.

Riviera owner Rodney Longhurst says the company’s motor yachts were highly sought after in the US with sales supported by a network of representatives on the east and west coasts.

“We are enormously proud of our latest shipment to the US and our largest-ever growing demand,” says Longhurst. “It’s especially pleasing that all the motor yachts, including our new 645 SUV, will arrive in time for one of our biggest showcases of the year at Fort Lauderdale.”

When City Beat visited Riviera last week a line of boats, in various stages of production from the spraying of the fibreglass shell to installation of the cabin furniture, stretched from one end of the 16ha factory precinct to the other.

Riviera craft being loaded onto a ship bound for the US.

The revived fortunes of Riviera counts as one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in Australian history.

A decade ago the Gold Coast company, which numbers Hollywood celebrities among its customers, was teetering on the brink of collapse, weighed down with $320 million of debt in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Riviera, which Longhurst rescued out of receivership in March 2012, now has an overflowing order book for its luxury craft that sell for up to $6m.

Riviera production director Kyle Davison says the Florida-bound yachts were loaded onto a ship in Brisbane over two days and took up the space of 560 containers.

“It’s a major logistical exercise that will require additional members from our teams to complete,” says Davison. The yachts will be part of an express service delivery to Fort Lauderdale with the ship bypassing two ports to be land directly into Miami from Brisbane instead of the usual port of call in Savannah.

“This rarely happens in commercial shipping, but with seven motor yachts on board it’s a significant cargo and thus has received express delivery status to the US,” says Davison.