Industry super fund pays penalty notice for misleading claims
An industry super fund has paid a $12,600 infringement notice penalty after it allegedly made misleading claims about offering independent advice in a recorded telephone message.
In a public statement, ASIC stated that industry super fund HostPlus Pty Ltd has paid a $12,600 infringement notice penalty issued by the corporate regulator.
The notice relates to a recorded telephone message on HostPlus’s main consumer telephone number.
ASIC said that from at least July 2016 to late March 2018, the recorded telephone message referred to a free consultation available to members with an Industry Fund Services Limited (IFS) licensed financial planner. It then referred to the advice as independent.
Following a complaint, ASIC investigated whether the telephone message contained a misleading representation that the advice service available to HostPlus members was independent advice.
“ASIC was concerned that HostPlus and IFS were not independent of each other because HostPlus employees were appointed as authorised representatives to provide financial advice under IFS’s Australian financial services licence, HostPlus paid service fees to IFS for adviser services, and at the relevant time, HostPlus was a shareholder of IFS’s ultimate holding company,” the corporate regulator said.
In response to ASIC’s concerns, HostPlus immediately removed the use of the word “independent” from the recorded telephone message.
ASIC noted that the payment of the infringement notice was not an admission of a contravention of the ASIC Act.
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.
