ASIC hits out over superannuation statements
Following an infringement notice issued by ASIC, a publishing company has paid a $21,600 penalty for an advertising campaign that the corporate regulator said contained misleading statements about superannuation.
In a public statement issued yesterday, ASIC said the statements in the campaign undertaken by Port Phillip Publishing, which appeared in a PowerPoint video presentation and on its primary business website, claimed that the Australian government “intended to nationalise and take ownership of superannuation”.
According to ASIC, the campaign also stated that the Australian public would be unable to access their retirement savings and that consumers ought to consider strategies to protect their superannuation from being stolen by the government by subscribing to an online publication of Port Phillip.
The infringement notice issued by ASIC referred to statements such as “your super is under threat from complete government confiscation” and “there is an extremely high chance that you will never see even one cent of the money you’ve contributed to super”, which it says were included in the company’s campaign.
ASIC said that Port Phillip Publishing paid a penalty of $21,600 after ASIC issued two infringement notices for false and misleading advertising. Each infringement notice imposed a penalty of $10,800.
Port Phillip Publishing had removed the statements prior to being notified of ASIC’s concerns, the corporate regulator said.
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