Surprising number of investors getting dodgy advice

“ASIC found there is a lack of basic knowledge of the legal obligations in setting up or running an SMSF.”

Among many things, one finding by ASIC was that people were using SMSFs as a vehicle to enter the property market and were using it only to enter the property market without a wider investment strategy.

“For members who had seen property prices increase, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, an SMSF became a vehicle to start investing in the property market. The surge in property prices created a sense of urgency driven by a fear of missing out,” the report noted.

An increasing usage of one-stop shops was also discovered in the report, where advisers have a relationship with developers or agents and recommend clients to invest into their products, typically geared residential property through an SMSF, regardless of the personal circumstance or the best interest of the client.

“The one-stop shop model creates inherent conflicts of interest that may affect the advice given to a client to set up an SMSF, make subsequent investments, or use specific services. These conflicts can arise from direct or indirect commissions, referral payment arrangements, representative remuneration structures or even management pressures,” explained the report.

Peter Koulizos, chairman of the Property Investment Professionals of Australia, does not have a big problem with one-stop shops, but moreso with the advice, as he believes no matter who the one-stop shop is, they need to do the best thing for the client.

“In the end, the client needs to be number one, and then the paperwork that the people provide, they need to disclaim all conditions that they collect, and in my opinion it is very, very hard to justify if a client is paying you a fee for the property investment advice, and a developer is giving you a fee for selling one of their units, to me that is a classic conflict of interest,” Mr Koulizos said to Smart Property Investment.

“If there is a dispute, who are you really representing? Are you really representing the client and might be giving you a few thousand dollars in fees, or are you really representing the developer who's willing to give you tens of thousands of dollars in spotters fees or commission?

“People need to check their paperwork that shows exactly where this person's getting their commission from.”

In order to address this, ASIC plans to work alongside other regulators, including the ATO and APRA, to reduce the biased advice given out from one-stop shops.

Mr Koulizos thinks these pairings are a “terrific” idea that he welcomes.

“I think the ATO needs to be involved, because they have a finger in the pie as far as SMSFs are concerned, and I think ASIC also needs to be involved in the provision of investment advice; it needs to be independent and there needs to be no conflict of interest.”

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