Australian dispute resolution scheme updates on Berndale Capital Securities case
AFCA says that the Receivers and Managers of the brokerage have made their report to the Federal Court.
There has finally been some update on the proceedings involving Berndale Capital Securities, whose Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) was cancelled in November last year.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) earlier today posted more information about the Berndale Capital Securities matter. There has not been much development since the previous update, provided in April. What is clear now is that the Receivers and Managers have made their report to the Federal Court. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is currently considering the implications of the report.
On April 18, 2019, the Federal Court appointed Rachel Burdett-Baker and Bruno Secatore of Cor Cordis as Receivers and Managers of Berndale.
Berndale is a current member of AFCA. While ASIC required Berndale to maintain its AFCA membership until at least May 23, 2019, Berndale will continue to remain a member of AFCA until AFCA’s Board determines otherwise.
Consumers can continue to file complaints about Berndale’s conduct and services with AFCA. The scheme will continue to consider and handle complaints against the financial firm as timely and efficiently as possible.
ASIC suspects that Berndale and its ex-director Stavro D’Amore may have breached client money obligations, and contravened other laws. Berndale was a retail OTC derivative issuer and its Australian Financial Services licence was cancelled on November 22, 2018. At the same time, Mr D’Amore was banned from providing financial services for a period of six years.