Industry fund fined for misleading SMSF advertising
ASIC has penalised an industry super fund after it produced “potentially misleading advertisements” related to SMSFs.
Media Super Limited has paid a $10,200 penalty to comply with the ASIC infringement notice, according to an announcement from the corporate regulator.
Media Super published the ads as a factsheet in September 2012, ASIC stated. The factsheet, titled ‘Self-managed super? You be the judge’, compared the costs and benefits of self-managed super funds with the Media Super fund.
It appeared on Media Super’s website and was sent to all fund members, according to ASIC.
“ASIC was concerned that the factsheet inaccurately represented the costs and benefits of the Media Super funds compared to self-managed super funds,” ASIC stated.
ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said ASIC is “serious about making sure investors can be confident and informed and that means cracking down on misleading or inaccurate advertising.”
Mr Tanzer also said Media Super had acted quickly to remove the statements from its website once approached by ASIC, and had fully cooperated in responding to ASIC's concerns.
The payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the ASIC legislation's consumer protection provisions, ASIC stated in its announcement. ASIC can issue an infringement notice where it has reasonable grounds to believe a person has contravened certain consumer protection laws.
