City Beat: Grazier-cum-financial-planner banned by ASIC

A southeast Queensland grazier who doubled as a financial planner has run afoul of the corporate cop.

A SOUTHEAST Queensland grazier who doubled as a financial planner has run afoul of the corporate cop.

ASIC revealed on Tuesday that it had permanently banned William John Henry Houwing (known as Jack Houwing) from providing financial advice and stripped the trading licence from his Financial Options Pty Ltd.

Houwing, who runs cattle and offers camping at his 252ha Belbrooke Farms at Caboonbah on Wivenhoe Lake, had clients loan money from their self-managed super funds to three of his related entities between 2005 and May last year without seeking additional independent advice.

Beef, cattle, cow, pastoralism, farming, grazing, ungulates (FILE)

ASIC also found he arranged loans for his own personal use and then failed to make some of the repayments on time.

As a result, Houwing “had a conflict of interest as both a financial adviser and the recipient of the loans’’

The regulator concluded that he was “not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services’’ and “not of good fame or character’’.

Houwing, who has the right to appeal the decision, didn’t call us back.