The convergence of financial services industries working in congruent spheres such as self-managed superannuation is being watched closely by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as part of the regulator’s broader monitoring of the SMSF sector.
While ASIC supports the growth of the SMSF sector and wants it to succeed, a number of concerning developments have emerged, ASIC commissioner Peter Kell told InvestorDaily following his speech to the CPA Australia conference in Sydney yesterday.
“We are seeing the growth of inter-relationships in the finance sector when it comes to SMSFs, which is fine as long as they ultimately support a good outcome for the investor,” he said.
“We want to see high standards across all the gatekeepers in this area, but we are going to be looking more closely at the relationships between the various SMSF gatekeepers – between financial planners, accountants and mortgage brokers for example – to ensure that ultimately the best interests of the investor are upheld.
“Consumers should be able to expect good quality unbiased advice from whichever professional they deal with in this space, and we will keep a close watch on any conflicts that may arise between professionals, which may undermine the trust that consumers have in the gatekeepers.”
The commissioner said where inappropriate advice has been given, ASIC is ready to step in and, if necessary, take follow-up and/or regulatory action.
In his speech at the CPA event, Mr Kell gave an update on the progress of ASIC’s SMSF taskforce, which was set up in September 2012 to investigate advice practices in the SMSF sector, and is due to hand down a report in coming weeks.
Mr Kell explained that the taskforce has reviewed more than 100 files of advice given to SMSF trustees by finance professionals, focusing on “high-risk funds” – ie. low income and elderly trustees with single-asset or under-diversified portfolios, or less than $150,000 in assets.
While the sample was not “representative of the sector overall”, the review raised a number of important findings.
“Overall, we concluded the majority of investors in the sample received ‘adequate’ advice, with relatively few receiving ‘good’ advice,” Mr Kell said.
“But while a majority received adequate advice, there were concerning pockets of ‘poor’ advice, and much of this advice concerned recommendations to set up an SMSF in order to gear into real property.”
