The corporate regulator has banned New South Wales solicitor and accountant Christopher Malcolm Edwards from providing financial services for 10 years, alleging he ran a financial services business without the required licence and steered clients into investments linked to his own companies.
ASIC said the prohibition, which took effect on 15 September 2025, also prevents Mr Edwards from controlling, whether alone or with others, an entity that carries on a financial services business, and from performing any functions involved in such a business over the same period. The decision has been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.
According to ASIC, a review of a sample of clients identified that Mr Edwards provided financial product advice over a four-year period with sufficient system, repetition and continuity to amount to carrying on a financial services business without holding an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence or authorisation. The regulator said he arranged for clients to set up self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), rollover funds into them and invest those funds in debentures issued by companies he controls, creating a significant conflict between his professional duties and his personal interests in funding property developments.
ASIC said it has reasons to believe Mr Edwards is not a fit and proper person to provide financial services or to be involved in a financial services business, does not have the judgment, skill or character to participate in the industry, and is likely to contravene financial services law. The investigation into his conduct is ongoing. Mr Edwards has the right to seek a review of the decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Background provided by ASIC states that Mr Edwards is a solicitor, registered tax agent, registered SMSF auditor and registered real estate agent, operating as a sole trader in Richmond, NSW, under the name Christopher M Edwards Solicitors and Accountants. He does not hold qualifications in financial planning. The regulator found he raised funds from clients for property developments in NSW and Queensland, arranging ‘Deeds of Agreement’ under which clients provided money to companies he controls for three or four years in return for the return of principal and a fixed rate of interest, sometimes paid quarterly. ASIC determined these instruments are debentures and therefore financial products under the Corporations Act.
Since 1 July 2016, accountants must be covered by an AFS licence or be a representative of an AFS licensee to give advice about acquiring or disposing of an interest in an SMSF. ASIC found Mr Edwards was aware of the former Accountants’ Exemption and the need for authorisation to provide financial product advice, and that he knew he was not authorised to give such advice. He is not currently authorised to provide financial services, though he has previously been authorised to provide limited financial services; the ban prevents him from obtaining authorisation in future.
Mr Edwards has been contacted for comment.
