FIMM said it had reprimanded Stephanie Christopher Ramesh, who was at the material time a UTS and PRS consultant at RHB Bank Bhd, for misconduct and breach of its revised Code of Ethics.

The federation also barred her from future registration with FIMM effective Sept 14, 2023.

In a statement today, FIMM said she was found to be in breach of clauses 4.3(j) and 4.5 of its revised Code of Ethics.

This included ill-advising the investor to perform multiple redemption and subscription transactions between the investor’s two ASN SARA accounts within a short period of time, without clear basis and not in the best interest of the investor.

Under clause 4.3(j), UTS and PRS consultants are prohibited from performing “churning” by executing excessive redemption and purchase of UTS using the same investment proceeds into one or more funds.

In simple terms, “churning” is an illegal and unethical practice by a broker or people who help manage a client’s investments by excessively trading assets in a client’s account to generate commissions.

Clause 4.5 prohibits UTS and PRS consultants from performing “switching” transactions to generate sales commission or gain other benefits whether in cash or in kind or where it is not in the best interest of investors.

FIMM said the public reprimand is imposed to send a strong message that the federation will take action against those who fail to comply with its rules.