'Can you trust ISA on FOFA?’: AFA
Questions are being asked about Industry Super Australia’s (ISA) integrity after its 'Compare the Pair’ advertising campaign was labelled as potentially misleading by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Responding to ASIC’s announcement that the campaign would be changed, Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) chief executive, Brad Fox, asked how investors could trust the ISA on other issues, including the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA), given the regulator’s concerns.
“If you can’t trust what ISA has said in its multi-million dollar 'Compare the Pair’ advertising campaign, how can you trust what they have to say about the FOFA amendments?” he said.
Fox said the decision to clarify the ads showed that ISA had spent millions of dollars of fund members’ money on a campaign that did not meet ASIC’s standards.
“This from the very group that has been so vocal about the FOFA amendments and the need for consumer protection,” he said.
“This really calls into question the ISA’s integrity when lobbying against the proposed FOFA changes.”
Fox said it was essential that consumers were given the facts in the FOFA amendments debate, adding that an AFA FOFA fact sheet - launched yesterday and available from its website - provided “the basis for a sensible discussion around what the FOFA amendments really mean”.
The 15-point questions and answers list covers issues relating to commissions, grandfathering and the difference between 'general advice’ and 'personal advice’.
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