The $12,600 infringement notice related to an alleged misleading claim about offering ‘independent advice’ in a recorded telephone message on HostPlus’ main consumer telephone number.
From at least July 2016 to late March 2018, the recorded telephone message referred to a free consultation available to members with an Industry Fund Services Limited licensed financial planner.
It then referred to the advice as independent, which was investigated by ASIC as to if the message contained a misleading representation that the advice service was independent.
ASIC was concerned that Hostplus and IFS were not independent of each other because Hostplus employees were appointed as authorised representatives to provide financial advice under IFS’ Australian financial services licence.
Hostplus also paid service fees to IFS for adviser services and at the time in question Hostplus was a shareholder of IFS ultimate holding company.
In response to ASIC’s concerns, Hostplus removed the use of the word ‘independent’ and paid the infringement notice.
Payment of the infringement notice however is not an admission of a contravention of the ASIC act.
Lol – how about the whole “general advice” thing? Wish i could start a TTR for a client under those provisions.
Where is our beloved FPA on this ?….waiting, waiting. Too busy organising road shows and online education courses Useless.
“HostPlus also paid service fees to IFS for adviser services” IS that code for dirty COMMISSIONS?????
Just remember who is a director of Industry Fund Services Ltd – a certain Mrs Shorten. What a conflict of interest that is.
3 words….Dover licence cancelled.
Compare the Pair
Right. Now go to town on their BS compare the pair misleading advertising. The whole Industry knows what a farce this is. The average clueless punter still believes this is real and that their super is in this magical land that miraculously just grows and grows BUT if it’s an “industry fund” (hold hands in a cupping circle motion), it’s in an even more amazing magical land, a land where everything magical happens and you can just run around chasing rainbows.
What an appalling and disgraceful excuse for enforcement by ASIC. If this was me they would go totally nuclear on my small AFSL and probably ruin my life. To fine an industry fund a paltry $12,600 for 20 months of infringements is really a scandal. This infringement would have been committed at a level of scale most advisers could never even dream of, where is consideration of the impact to the community overall? The head count matters. Every single advice document should be checked by the regulator to see if the advice is what “a reason independent adviser” would have provided and if not, the clients should be re-mediated for being sold conflicted products under the guise of Independence. People may now be trapped in products charging them fees where they think the product advice received was independent and they will have their ticket happily clipped for years to come. What a great ROI on a $12,600 investment for Hostplus. I just find this so galling, every one us know what the response would be if it was a small AFSL, retail provider, bank etc.
I’m now officially calling myself Independent. In big bold words I’m going to display INDEPENDENT on the front door. I plan to write off the $12,500 as an advertising cost. Like in this case it will cost $4,000 a year. That’s a bargain.
Surely remediation plan is now required for every call, they would have archive recordings on each on that would now need to be checked.
[quote=Anonymous Big end of town always get away lightly on such breaches
If the big end of the town was Union super funds, then yes.
So I guess that the members will end up paying the bill?
hmm talk about slap on the wrist
When will Scott Pape be fined for making HostPlus product recommendations to hundreds of thousands of people without any consideration of their individual circumstances?
what a joke, have they reviewed the advice that was delivered to see how independent that advice was? or if was made a detriment to the clients?
I reckon that ASIC ought to take a look at this one:
This is a classic from QSuper/QInvest on their website.
Working in your best interests
Finances are personal, and everyone’s goals are different. That’s why your QInvest adviser will get to know you before tailoring advice that helps you achieve your unique financial goals.
[color=lime][color=lime]Our advisers don’t receive incentives for recommending specific products, so you can be sure we’re committed to providing the right advic[color=lime][/color]e for yo[color=lime][/color]u.[/color][/color]
I work for a VI AFSL, and I don’t get incentives for recommending specific products and I’m committed to providing the right advice for my clients. But I could never put this statement on my website.
Thoughts?
So industry superfunds have been identified as having both dodgy insurance solutions for their members and now this misleading advertising but hey….its not like advisers hadn’t screamed about all this from the rooftops years back is it? Nohhhh, yeah right!
I guess it must be easier (and clearly more satisfying) for ASIC to keep smashing small advisers instead.
Well as financial planners continuing to serve the broader community this is about education. This means, when we speak to our clients about how the industry is going, we educate them about independence and that NO-ONE is above the law – including industry funds. #spinit #invertthelogic
I imagine if this was a big bank or AMP, they’d be fined for every time someone listened to the message for the 2 yrs it was played on their phones. If it was one of the smaller licencees they’d be having their AFSL cancelled.
I trust that as people may have been mislead by the term independent, that every advice document issued is being checked to see if the advice matched that which an independent adviser would have provided. If not, obviously a remediation program needs to be swiftly undertaken.
AKA VERTICAL INTEGRATION… just industry fund spin as usual!!!!!!!!!!!
double standards.. the current TV Ad for VicSuper makes you think that the customer service people providing general advice meet with you at home or at work.. I think I might make a complaint to ASIC for misleading advertising and making super members think that this is the service that they will receive..
if this was a adviser. be banned for life and press releases everywhere. guys family would be embarrassed and asic get the result they want. just not fair is it?
ASIC need to make a full investigation into how many people took up this advise and were hoodwinked into believing it was independent advice.
When will ASIC ever do anything of substance to dodgy ISA and their dodgy Vertical Advice structures.
The fine is pathetic.
That really is a pathetic amount to pay. Especially as the ‘infringement’ occurred for at least 20 months.
This is deserving of another Royal Commission and it appears Industry Funds should be included this time?
To be completely fair, shouldn’t ASIC apply the penalty to every call that heard that message??? 10,000 phone calls x $12,600 = $126m. Maybe that’s the industry fund application of the rules.
And to think hostplus ceo uses members money to buy his wife a ticket to the Australian open
The fine is nothing to them. I suspect the publicity is the key but more examples of this is needed as none of them give advice to invest in anything other than their own fund. Surely people must realise this.
Could not get any less independent than these guys
Interesting. If I did such a breach on my small license, ASIC would shut me down and throw the book at me. Big end of town always get away lightly on such breaches.
[color=purple]Why do I think that if it was a retail fund the fine would be [color=purple]100[/color] times more?[/color]
Really…. $12,600 is it
Should ASIC now ban the Barefooted One for recommending this mob…and doing so without KYC, FSG or SOA…