ASIC Warns Advice Firms That Lead Generators Could Cost Them Their Licenses

A review of 15 licensees found that unlicensed or unqualified lead generators brought in 35% of new clients, or about 7,639 people, from January 2025 to June 2026. These clients invested about A$678 million, with 90.6% of it going into Australia's compulsory retirement savings scheme, superannuation.

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said that commercial incentives must not come at the expense of consumers. The regulator called the report a final warning, stating that firms that enable, ignore or fail to control such conduct risk action that may affect whether they stay licensed.

The review found that in some models, middlemen could collect the entire upfront fee paid from retirement savings. Data brokers charged A$0.50 to A$75 per lead, and some referral partners received 80% to 100% of the client's upfront advice fee, paid only if the client signed up.

More than half of the reviewed licensees let lead generators perform at least one of three adviser tasks: fact finding, risk profiling or discussing the recommendations in a statement of advice. Some firms told ASIC such conversations were banned, while documents showed them taking place.

Scripts used at one licensee named the superannuation platforms to be recommended, which ASIC said suggested the outcome was set before any client conversation. Few licensees had reliable access to call recordings, most of which were deleted after 90 days.

The A$678 million can be measured against ASIC's case against Interprac Financial Planning, a licensee linked to the collapsed Shield and First Guardian funds. Interprac representatives advised 6,843 clients to put about A$677 million into the two funds between 2021 and 2024.

ASIC has not alleged that the entire amount was lost, and Interprac said in November 2025 that it would defend the allegations. The new review counted almost the same sum, from 7,639 referred clients, in 17 months, working out at about A$88,800 a client.

ASIC said inclusion in the review is neither a finding of misconduct nor a sign of involvement in Shield or First Guardian. About 12,000 investors lost more than A$1 billion in those collapses, and ASIC's enforcement over the two funds has reached their auditors.

In a separate case not yet tested in court, ASIC alleges that about A$16.2 million paid to a former adviser's companies went on to marketing and lead-generation firms. The regulator removed or restricted 87 people and businesses in 2025-26, up from 58 a year earlier.