The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has upheld a decision from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to refuse Superannuation Warehouse Australia’s (SWA’s) application for a limited Australian financial services licence (AFSL), after its director failed to disclose past offences.
The AAT based the finding on SWA’s sole director and nominated responsible manager, Johann Heinrich Preller, failing to:
In the decision, the AAT considered information referred to ASIC by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) about the audits of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) completed by Preller. While this information was provided to ASIC after the hearing had closed, the AAT agreed with ASIC that it was relevant to the licence decision and so should be considered.
“These decisions reinforce the importance of providing full and frank disclosures to ASIC and the weight placed on an applicant’s past conduct in financial services or under other legislation in determining a licence application,” ASIC executive director of assessment and intelligence, Warren Day, said of the decision.
“Applicants, and anyone else involved in preparing and lodging applications with ASIC, are on notice that a failure to disclose all relevant information runs the risk of the application being refused.”
The research house has offered a silver lining after super fund returns saw the end of a five-month streak last month.
A survey of almost 6,000 fund members has identified weakening retirement confidence, particularly among those under 55 years of age, signalling an opportunity for super funds to better engage with members on their retirement journey.
The funds have confirmed the signing of a successor fund transfer deed, moving closer to creating a new $29 billion entity.
A number of measures, including super on Paid Parental Leave, funding to recover unpaid super, and frameworks to encourage investment in the energy transition, have been welcomed by the superannuation industry.
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