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ASIC has received over 100 reports of misconduct from the public regarding the provision of unlicensed advice by real estate agents on the early release of super scheme.
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ASIC responds to unlicensed early super release advice
16 July 2020
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In April this year, ASIC issued a warning to the real estate industry after it became aware that some real estate agents were advising tenants who were unable to pay their rent, or that may be unable to pay rent in the future, to apply for early release of their superannuation.
ASIC executive director for assessment and intelligence Warren Day said ASIC has received 124 reports of misconduct from the general public regarding this issue.
“We issued approximately 13 warning letters to certain real estate agents asking them to rectify their behaviour. We have had our enforcement teams look at a couple of matters more intently,” Mr Day told the Joint Committee on Corporations.
“At the moment, there is no further action likely to be taken in relation to those matters.”
ASIC’s early intervention on the matter, Mr Day said, was an effective pre-emptive step that prevented a number of breaches of criminal law by real estate agents.
Mr Day said in ASIC’s view, the misconduct was no longer continuing, with ASIC seeing a “huge amount of walk back by real estate agents where they had been making direct statements to tenants that they should be accessing their super”.
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ASIC said it was also aware of one private school that had made recommendations to a number of parents that if they couldn’t pay their fees, they could consider accessing their super.
“The school apologised for that statement and walked that back,” he said.
Mr Day said three of ASIC’s working groups that are focused on scams, misleading advertising and unlicensed advice would be investigating the issue in a number of other spaces also.
ASIC had earlier this year allowed registered tax agents to give advice to existing clients about early access to superannuation without needing to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence.
ASIC’s temporary relief for tax agents will be subject to a number of conditions, including capping the advice fee to $300 and establishing that the client is entitled to the early release.
Clients must also be provided with a record of advice (ROA) and must have approached the advice provider for the advice.
The corporate regulator has yet to reveal an end date for the measure, but it noted that it will provide 30 days of notice to the industry before revoking the relief instrument.
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