The corporate watchdog ASIC has commenced civil proceedings against Australia’s second-biggest bank Westpac, over alleged ‘poor’ financial advice.

It comes less than two months after shocking revelations of dodgy behaviour in the financial advice arms of the big banks and AMP came out in the royal commission.

The latest allegations relate to Perth-based financial planner Sudhir Sinha, who worked for Westpac between 2001 and 2014.

In the latest case, ASIC alleges that Mr Sinha did not comply with his clients’ ‘best interests’ as stipulated in the Corporations Act.

In Court documents filed on Thursday, the watchdog claimed Mr Sinha had “provided inappropriate financial advice, and failed to prioritise the interests of his clients”.

Last year Mr Sinha was banned from providing financial services for five years.

However, ASIC has decided to take Westpac to court because it claims the bank is liable for the alleged breaches of the ‘best interests’ obligations.

The watchdog also alleges that Westpac contravened sections of the Act that require Westpac “to do all things necessary to ensure that the financial services covered by its licence are provided efficiently, honestly and fairly, and to comply with financial services laws”.

If the court decides in ASIC’s favour, Westpac could be liable to pay a fine of up to $1 million.

ASIC noted, however, that Westpac has “a significant remediation programme underway” in respect of Mr Sinha’s conduct.

Westpac has reported to ASIC that it had paid approximately $12 million in compensation to clients impacted by Mr Sinha’s poor advice and ongoing advice service failures.

The hearing is scheduled for July 19 at 9.30am at the Federal Court in Sydney.