ASIC scrutinises financial service advertising
Companies operating in the financial services industry may soon find the manner in which they advertise their products and services more tightly constrained.
The new chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Greg Medcraft said the regulator would soon be consulting on best practice guidance for advertising financial products and services.
He said that this would then be followed with consultation around advertising with respect to credit products and services.
“These documents will provide very practical guidance about how the legal provisions relating to misleading and deceptive advertising apply in various situations, and what we think represents balanced and informative advertising,” he said.
Medcraft told a Financial Ombudsman Service event last week that the documents would contain “real world” examples and that ASIC hoped they would prove useful for all sectors of the industry, including product designers, advisers and publishers of advertising.
“We would like those preparing advertising to actively work to present a balanced understanding of the product or service, including its risks,” he said. “It is also important they take into account the kind of audience likely to see the advertising, according to the medium they are using.”
“Our expectation is that the financial services industry will strive to do more than simply meet the minimum requirement of not being misleading or deceptive – they will actually take a role in ensuring that advertising helps investors and consumers to make decisions that are appropriate for them,” the ASIC chairman said.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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