The findings of a shocking new ASIC report show why merely licensing lead generators won't protect Australians' life savings, sparking fresh calls for Parliament to legislate an outright ban.
ASIC’s report, Lead generation advice models: Putting consumers and licensees at risk, lays bare how a small group of licensed businesses let high-pressure sales tactics, misleading claims, and unqualified people become deeply embedded in sales funnels designed to switch people’s super into riskier products.
Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert said the ASIC report findings showed starkly why simply licensing lead generation is not effective to keep consumers safe.
"Even after the Shield and First Guardian collapses, ASIC’s report methodically catalogues the types of shocking consumer harm being caused by lead generators working for some licensed entities," she said.
"This shows why an outright ban on lead generation is the only credible policy answer to protect Australians’ life savings - Parliament should outlaw these dangerous practices and sales funnels.”
Alarm bells have been ringing loudly since 12,000 Australians were lured into losing around $1.2 billion in the Shield and First Guardian scandals via licensed lead generators.
The Government and the Parliament should heed the lessons from that disaster - and shut and bolt the door for all time on this dangerous activity that has no place in the financial services sector.
ASIC’s report shows how lead generation has commercial incentives for lead generators to refer clients to partners, in some cases calculated at 80% to 100% of the consumer’s upfront advice fee.
That means money deducted from a person’s retirement savings is funding the very sales funnel used to recruit them into products where their life savings could be put at risk – as happened to the Shield and First Guardian victims.
In one case, ASIC found a lead generator call script named the super platforms to be recommended, suggesting that the advice outcome had been predetermined prior to any discussion with clients.
It also sets out how unqualified lead generators were using potentially misleading statements and non-like-for-like performance comparisons to convince people to review or switch their super.
Lead generators were also doing more than handing over leads. ASIC found unlicensed people were involved in fact-finding, product research, discussing investment performance and advice recommendations, providing Statements of Advice, obtaining approvals to proceed and in one case helping put the advice into effect.
Most concerningly, ASIC found some licensees did not appear to know what was happening in relation to the services lead generators were providing to them or their representatives.
These findings should ring loud alarm bells in Canberra to put an end to these harmful practices.
The Government’s August 2026 consumer protection package proposed restricting real-time contact about super by unlicensed parties, along with stronger consent and anti-hawking rules and greater accountability for advice licensees.
But today’s report by ASIC should prompt the Government to strengthen its response – and shut down these dangerous sales funnels once and for all with an outright ban on lead generation while protecting safe and legitimate communications.
ENDS
About us:
The opinions above are those of the author in their capacity as spokesperson for Super Members Council of Australia (SMC). SMC, the authors and all other persons involved in the preparation of this information are thereby not giving legal, financial or professional advice for individual persons or organisations.
Contact details:
Mike Dolan, 0474 909 471, [email protected]