A NSW woman who worked for a company owned by the Commonwealth Bank has been banned as a financial planner for five years.
Kimberley Holgate from Wagga Wagga was found by the corporate watchdog to have misled her clients and not acting in their best interests.
During her time as a representative for Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited, a subsidiary of CBA, Ms Holgate cut clients' signatures from documents on file and pasted them onto new documents.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said she also advised people to cancel existing insurance policies and apply for new policies issued by CommInsure - leaving some without any cover and others paying higher premiums and fees.
She also advised some to rollover a new product offered by a company linked to the Commonwealth Bank.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"The super advice provided by Ms Holgate did not result in any improvement to the clients' current financial position," ASIC said in a statement on Thursday.
The ban is part of a project set up in 2014 aimed at lifting the standards of major financial advice providers - namely CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac, Macquarie and AMP.
Ms Holgate has a right to appeal the decision.
