ASIC confirms likelihood of industry fund advice probe
A senior Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) executive has told a gathering of industry fund trustees and executives that the regulator will probably move to examine the quality of financial advice being provided by industry funds.
Addressing the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF) in Brisbane, ASIC senior executive leader, Investment Managers and Superannuation, Jane Eccleston confirmed the likelihood of the regulator taking a look at advice provided through vertically-integrated superannuation organisations.
Echoing a response given by ASIC deputy chairman, Peter Kell to a Parliamentary Committee earlier this month, Eccleston said that ASIC had looked at financial advice provided vertically-integrated banks and insurers because of the “embedded conflicts” which existed within such structures”.
However, she said ASIC was not interested in business models such much as the quality of the advice that was being provided.
Directly questioned about whether industry funds might be on ASIC’s radar, Eccleston said the regulator would probably be doing more work on integrated structured, including financial advice provided via industry superannuation funds.
“But not because we think [the advice] is bad, but to ensure it meets members’ needs,” she said.
Kell last month admitted to a Parliamentary Committee that ASIC had not yet specifically examined advice provided by industry funds, but suggested it was likely to do so sometime in the future.
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