Have unions been giving unlicensed advice?
A senior Liberal Party Senator has queried whether trade unions are providing unlicensed advice when they urge employers to nominate particular superannuation funds as default funds.
Tasmanian Liberal Senator, David Bushby has used Senate estimates to directly ask the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) whether trade unions operating in such a way might be breaching regulatory requirements.
“…if a trade union is providing advice to an employer about what might be appropriate default superannuation funds, I would have thought it might fall foul of that requirement,” he said.
Senator Bushby said he was encouraging ASIC to look at the issue in the context of the manner in which the regulator handled financial advisers.
“… I would encourage you to look at this and put it in the framework of a question and ask you whether you will look at this or whether you will consider it,” he said.
“The advice of that nature, which is provided by a trade union, does not seem to me to differ too much from financial advice that is given by a financial adviser about the same decision,” Senator Bushby said. “I ask whether you will acknowledge that that is a potential question that you could look at.”
ASIC senior executive, Ged Fitzpatrick acknowledged Bushby’s question and said he understood what the Senator was wanting ASIC to look at.
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