Stormy weather ahead as ASIC announces intention to commence proceedings in Storm Financial collapse

ASIC has announced that it intends to commence civil penalty proceedings against Emmanuel and Julie Cassimatis as directors of Storm Financial Limited (in liquidation) (recs and mgrs appted) in relation to alleged contraventions of s 180 of the Corporations Act.

ASIC will allege that the Cassimatises breached their duties by allowing Storm to become exposed to legal liability caused by their implementation of a financial services business model (the "Storm Model") which involved providing commoditised financial advice to investors that failed to take into account the personal circumstances of individual investors.

ASIC has also announced its intention to commence proceedings against parties, including the Commonwealth Bank and Macquarie Bank, currently seeking compensation for investors affected by the Storm collapse.

A short period will be allowed before actually filing proceedings in order to allow settlement proceedings with the bank parties to reach an acceptable commercial outcome.

More detail, particularly regarding the action that ASIC intends to take against the banks, is available on the ASIC official site.