Following the complaints from investors and the inspection reports from TMB, which is licensed to operate securities business as a Limited Broker Dealer and Underwriter (LBDU) of investment units, the SEC conducted further investigation and found that the aforesaid investment consultants who were TMB employees had failed to perform duties with responsibility and professional due care with regard to the following cases taking place at different branches: 
 (1)  In the case of {A}, the findings showed that she had failed to give complete information and advice on redemption of retirement mutual fund (RMF) to a client; she recommended that the client buy RMF units from TMB only one time and redeem them all at once without advising the client to doublecheck whether or not the client had bought RMF units from other financial institutions or explaining the impact of redemption in such manner. As a result, the client became in breach of the conditions for receiving tax benefits and was consequently ordered by the Revenue Department to return the received tax benefits and pay a fine. In this regard, TMB paid a compensation to the client for the money paid to the RD; 
 (2)  In the case of {B}, who also held a branch manager position, it was found that she had advised a client to invest in a fund without giving complete and sufficient information as well as warnings related to the fund that could influence the client’s investment decision. She also gave inaccurate information related to the fund’s net asset value (NAV), redemption price and offer price to the client; 
 (3)  In the case of {C}, it was found that she had signed on unit purchase orders without communicating or giving advice to the client for whom {B} had given information and advice. {C} was working at the branch where {B} was the manager.

The misconduct of the three persons above was a failure to perform duties with responsibility and professional due care for the best interest of investors pursuant to the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board.* The SEC has therefore imposed administrative sanctions with details as follows: 
 (a)  suspending the approval of {A} as securities investment consultant for two months, effective from 12 October 2018;
 (b)  suspending the approval of {B} as securities investment consultant and banning her from working as branch manager in charge of capital market business of the bank for two months, effective from 29 March 2019;
 (c)  suspending the approval of {C} as securities investment consultant for two months, effective from 29 March 2019.

The SEC strongly advises that investors protect their own interest by seeking clarification from investment consultants regarding the nature and features of the investment vehicles in which they are interested, conditions for earning returns, associated risks, criteria for returns payment and redemption, expenses and tax benefit conditions before making any investment decision to make sure that they would be entitled to receive benefits and would not be in breach of LTF and RMF criteria. In all cases, investors should seek full information of the products and study it carefully before making an investment transaction via any platform, mobile application included. Fund information is available in full prospectus and fund fact sheet.

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*The persons in (1) and (3) were in contravention of Clause 31(1), Clause 33(3) and Clause 35(2) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. Tor Lor Thor. 8/2557 Re: Rules on Personnel in the Capital Market Business dated 3 June 2014, and were thus suspended as securities investment consultant. 
The person in (2) was in contravention of Clause 31(1) and Clause 33(3) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. Tor Lor Thor. 8/2557, as amended, and Clause 35(2) of the same Notification, and was thus suspended as securities investment consultant.
     In addition, since the suspension as investment consultant is a prohibited characteristic of capital market personnel in Group 2 under Clause 30(4)(a) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. Tor Lor Thor. 8/2557, as amended, the person in (2) was thus banned from working as a branch manager responsible for capital market business at the bank throughout the suspension period of the investment consultant. Therefore, by virtue of Clause 34(2) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. Tor Lor Thor. 8/2557, the SEC notified the bank to prohibit the person in (2) from performing duties as branch manager responsible for capital market business throughout her suspension period.