AIOFP asks, ASIC ‘ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL’ SHIELDFIRST GUARDIAN

This letter was sent to all federal parliamentarians by the AIOFP

Dear Parliamentarian, we are pleased that ASIC have taken action against the other stakeholders involved with the ongoing monitoring/management of Shield/First Guardian BUT the role of ASIC should not be overlooked.

ASIC were warned on at least 2 occasions in 2023 recently highlighted by Senator Bragg but failed to act, this unfortunately allowed another $526 million of Consumer savings to be allocated to the failed products.

We cannot understand why ASIC did not take advantage of SECTION 920A [1] [ba] of the Corporations Law that gives them power to act if they ‘believe’ or think it ‘is likely’ persons are contravening the Law – see below.

If they had acted when alerted this matter could have been largely avoided. The perpetrators actions would have been frozen until ASIC could further investigate the circumstances. This Law gives ASIC extraordinary powers to intervene in any commercial matter.

The question needs to be asked why ASIC did not implement this approach?

ASIC is silent on this issue but it is obvious they need to start employing ‘street smart’ lawyers instead of the inexperienced or bureaucratic Lawyers who are removed from or never been in the ‘real commercial world’.

The common political response is more regulatory power, but ASIC have ample already, the harsh reality is the ASIC senior management are predominately all career Bureaucrats who don’t fully understand the commercial market and behave accordingly.

This needs to change to protect consumers and the Advice Profession going forward.

Please contact us if you require any further information.