The notice relates to a recorded telephone message on HostPlus’s main consumer telephone number.

ASIC said that from at least July 2016 to late March 2018, the recorded telephone message referred to a free consultation available to members with an Industry Fund Services Limited (IFS) licensed financial planner. It then referred to the advice as independent.

Following a complaint, ASIC investigated whether the telephone message contained a misleading representation that the advice service available to HostPlus members was independent advice.

“ASIC was concerned that HostPlus and IFS were not independent of each other because HostPlus employees were appointed as authorised representatives to provide financial advice under IFS’s Australian financial services licence, HostPlus paid service fees to IFS for adviser services, and at the relevant time, HostPlus was a shareholder of IFS’s ultimate holding company,” the corporate regulator said.

In response to ASIC’s concerns, HostPlus immediately removed the use of the word “independent” from the recorded telephone message.

ASIC noted that the payment of the infringement notice was not an admission of a contravention of the ASIC Act.