Super Consumers welcomes ASIC action to protect people’s super  

Super Consumers Australia welcomes the strong enforcement action taken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to protect people’s super from dodgy investment schemes. Yesterday ASIC filed civil penalty proceedings in the federal court against Equity Trustees, the trustee of two super funds (AMG Superannuation and Super Simplifier) that allowed members to be invested in Shield Master Fund, which has since collapsed costing thousands of people their retirement savings.

Super Consumers’ CEO Xavier O’Halloran said, “by putting poison products on their shelves, Equity Trustees has catastrophically failed to do the right thing by its members. This may result in the loss of over $130 million in people’s hard-earned retirement savings. Over 5,000 of Equity’s customers are now facing the terrifying prospect of having to work until the day they die.”

Super fund trustees are professional investors who are well placed to protect people from dodgy investment schemes. They have obligations to carefully select and monitor the investments they make available to their members and should be taking steps to protect their members.

Mr. O’Halloran said, “this will be an important test case for the consumer protections we have. Super funds are in a prime position to take rotten investments off the shelf and we’re pleased to see ASIC holding Equity Trustees accountable for failing to protect people’s savings.”

Thus far, none of the four trustees who made Shield Master Fund or First Guardian Master Fund, another failed scheme, available have offered any compensation to their members for their lost savings. Super Consumers is calling on those funds to take responsibility for the harm they have contributed to and do right by their members.