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Guide · Public records

How to read a RECO discipline decision

RECO decisions are short, but they are written in a register most people never meet. Ten minutes with this guide and you can read any of them, including the one this site is built around.

The parts, in order

  1. Style of cause. “RECO and [registrant]”, plus any alias. This is the name to search.
  2. Findings. The Code of Ethics sections breached. In Zia’s case: 4, 5, 17, 38, 39 and 2(1) in respect of 16.
  3. Order. The penalty: a fine, a course, sometimes both. Under REBBA 2002 the Discipline Committee could fine an individual up to $25,000 per proceeding.
  4. Reasons. Either a contested hearing’s findings, or, very commonly, an Agreed Statement of Facts and Penalty the registrant signed with a waiver of hearing.
  5. Summary of agreements. The facts mapped to the sections breached.
  6. The sections quoted in full. Useful: you can read exactly what duty was broken.
  7. Decision of the Chair. Confirms the findings and the penalty, with the release date.

Agreed statement or contested?

If the decision says it “proceeded on the basis of an Agreed Statement of Facts”, the registrant admitted the facts with legal advice and gave up the hearing. That makes every numbered fact an admission. It also means no witnesses were tested and nothing outside the agreed facts was decided. The Zia decision is of this kind.

What a decision proves, and what it doesn’t

  • It proves the facts stated and the breaches found. Nothing more.
  • It is not a criminal record. A section headed “fraud” does not make it a fraud finding; read the text under the heading.
  • It says nothing about conduct before or after the events described.
  • Anonymised parties (“Brokerage A”, “Buyer A”) are anonymised for a reason. Guessing at them is unfair and often wrong.

Reading the penalty

Compare the fine to the statutory maximum and to whether registration was suspended or revoked. A fine near the maximum without suspension, as here, signals conduct the regulator took seriously but did not consider disqualifying. Mandatory ethics courses are routine add-ons.