Licensee charged with anti-hawking offences involving super
An AFS licensee has been charged with anti-hawking offences following alleged sales calls that were made involving superannuation products.
On 21 March 2022, National Advice Solutions appeared at the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland charged with 11 offences of offering to issue or sell a financial product via unsolicited phone calls.
Following an investigation, ASIC alleges that between August 2019 and June 2020, National Advice Solutions made unsolicited calls to 11 consumers and encouraged them to roll over their superannuation into different superannuation products.
At the time of the alleged offending, the maximum penalty for a breach of s992A(3) of the Corporations Act was $133,200 per breach for a body corporate.
“Reforms to the anti-hawking regime were made under the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) Act 2020, which commenced on 5 October 2021. These reforms were designed to tackle consumer harms arising from consumers being approached with unwanted products through cold-calls or other unsolicited contact,” ASIC stated.
“The current charges are brought under the previous anti-hawking provisions because they relate to conduct that allegedly took place prior to 5 October 2021.”
The matter has been listed for a mention hearing on 16 May 2022.
It is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions following referral of a brief of evidence from ASIC.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
