A two-year prohibition against the registration of financial adviser Stephen Rogers as a relevant provider has been set aside and increased to three years following a review by the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART).
As a result of the ART's decision, Mr Rogers is prohibited from being registered with ASIC during the prohibition period and is prohibited from providing personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products during that period.
The Financial Services and Credit Panel (FSCP) had previously made a registration prohibition order against Mr Rogers for a two-year period. Mr Rogers sought review of that decision in the ART.
The Tribunal has now set aside the FSCP decision and made a three-year registration prohibition order.
The FSCP had found that Mr Rogers, while authorised by United Global Capital Pty Ltd (UGC), gave non-compliant advice to a client and acted in a way that was misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive.
In particular, the FSCP found that Mr Rogers inappropriately used:
- a scaled advice model that excluded consideration of the suitability of establishing a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) and the suitability of the SMSF investing into products related to Mr Rogers' licensee, and
- a rate of return in the benefit comparison in his statement of advice.
In the ART, ASIC provided evidence of similar breaches in relation to additional UGC client files and sought orders imposing a longer registration prohibition period.
The registration prohibition took effect from 7 December 2023. On 3 May 2024, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal granted Mr Rogers a stay of the registration prohibition, subject to a condition that he does not provide scoped advice for the duration of the stay.
On 7 April 2026, the ART set aside the FSCP decision and imposed a three year registration prohibition period. On 24 April 2026, the ART ordered that the registration prohibition end on 27 November 2028, taking into account the earlier non-registration period between 7 December 2023 and 2 May 2024. (Access the ART decision.)
Actions to consider if you are a client of UGC
If you are a client of UGC and have concerns about the conduct of your adviser or the advice you received, you should consider lodging a complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). AFCA is the external dispute resolution scheme for financial complaints in Australia and must deal with complaints independently and fairly. AFCA's service is free for consumers.
AFCA can be contacted by:
- calling 1800 931 678 for free (9am - 5pm Melbourne time), or
- lodging a complaint online on AFCA's website.
- AFCA will consider your complaint if it meets the eligibility criteria.
AFCA reinstated UGC's AFCA membership to ensure impacted consumers can lodge complaints following the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds. If you intend to lodge a complaint with AFCA in relation to advice received from UGC you should do so as soon as possible.
Background
Stephen Rogers was registered under AFS representative number 001270284.
The requirement for financial advisers to be registered was introduced by the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response-Better Advice) Act 2021, in response to Recommendation 2.10 of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
ASIC convened a sitting panel of the FSCP for Mr Rogers as part of ASIC's cross-sector priority to deter cold calling superannuation switching business models which has the broader aim of protecting consumers from cold calling practices that induce inappropriate superannuation switching and result in the erosion of members' superannuation balances.
UGC
ASIC was concerned that UGC and its representatives gave conflicted personal advice to clients, specifically those advised to establish a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) and invest in highly speculative investments related to Joel Hewish (UGC's director). This included a company called Global Capital Property Fund Limited (GCPF).
This is despite UGC advisers telling clients they were not receiving personal financial product advice.
In July 2024, ASIC banned Mr Hewish for 10 years from providing financial services, performing any function involved in carrying on of a financial services business and controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business. ASIC also cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Mr Hewish's company, UGC (24-170MR). Mr Hewish appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's decision which was dismissed by the Administrative Review Tribunal (25-160MR).
Consumer information
ASIC has issued a consumer alert warning amid increasing concerns that people are being enticed to invest their retirement savings into complex and risky schemes: 25-120MR Consumer alert. Be super smart, visit ASIC's Moneysmart campaign page.
More information
- 12 December 2023: 23-335MR Financial Services and Credit Panel issues registration prohibition order against financial adviser
- Updates about UGC are on ASIC's dedicated webpage: United Global Capital Pty Ltd (in liquidation).
