ASIC dishes out 10-year adviser ban

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist

22 June 2026

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has handed a financial adviser a 10-year ban and cancelled the two licences held by his business after uncovering misconduct related to service agreements and client fees.

Financial planner and sole director of Freedom Wealth Services, Brett Newbound, has been banned from engaging in any credit or financial services activities for ten years and had the firm’s Australian financial services (AFS) licence and Australian credit licence (ACL) cancelled.

The corporate regulator indicated that Newbound had charged clients ongoing service fees based on service agreements that contained falsely obtained client signatures and file notes that “ASIC found did not accurately reflect client interactions”.

As a result, Newbound was determined to not be a “fit and proper person to participate in the credit and financial services industries”.

With both the ban and licence cancellations effective from 1 May, both Newbound and Freedom Wealth Services have appealed to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

They also applied to the tribunal for stay and confidentiality orders, but they were dismissed on 16 June following ASIC opposition.

“ASIC’s actions against Mr Newbound and Freedom Wealth Services Pty Ltd reflects its commitment to protecting consumers who engage financial service advisers and to taking action where it considers that conduct does not meet the standards required of those operating in the financial services industry,” a statement from ASIC said.

Newbound was an authorised representative of AMP Financial Planning from August 2011 to February 2021 and was also a sole director and financial planner at Logic Financial Services, which was also a corporate authorised representative of AMP Financial Planning over the same period.

Newbound’s ban has been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.