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Industry fund pays $12,600 over ‘independent advice’
Industry fund HostPlus has paid a $12,600 infringement notice penalty for making misleading claims about offering “independent advice”.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced the imposition of the infringement notice today noting that the claims about “independent advice” had been contained with in a recorded message on the fund’s consumer telephone number.
ASIC said that from at least July, 2016, to late March 2018 the recorded telephone message ferred to a free consultation available to members with an Industry Funds Services licensed financial planner. It then referred to the advice as independent.
It said that following a complaint, ASIC had had investigated and had become concerned that HostPlus and IFS were not independent of each other because HostPlus employees were appointed as authorised representatives to provide financial advice under the IFS license.
ASIC said that HostPlus had immediately removed the word “independent” from its telephone message.
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The future of superannuation policy remains uncertain, with further reforms potentially on the horizon as the Albanese government seeks to curb the use of superannuation as a bequest vehicle.
Superannuation funds will have two options for charging fees for the advice provided by the new class of adviser.
The proposed reforms have been described as a key step towards delivering better products and retirement experiences for members, with many noting financial advice remains the “urgent missing piece” of the puzzle.
APRA’s latest data has revealed that superannuation funds spent $1.3 billion on advice fees, with the vast majority sent to external financial advisers.
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Seriously??? A fund with 1million plus members and more than $33bn in FUM.
What a ridiculous fine amount.
Is anyone surprised why no one takes asic seriously???