ASIC will act strongly on advertisements that are potentially misleading to investors, with the corporate regulator's extended powers now allowing it to issue infringement notices and monetary fines.
"We can now issue infringement notices and pursue monetary penalties through the courts of more than $1 million per breach. So we will be reviewing financial ads more closely," ASIC commissioner Peter Kell said.
"Furthermore, the outcomes we will seek have potentially stronger penalties than we have sought in the past."
ASIC would be particularly focused on how risks were disclosed or explained, Kell said.
"This will include the use of terms such as guarantee, secured, protected," he said.
Kell made the comments at a presentation of ASIC's guidance on advertising at yesterday's Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia luncheon.
"ASIC does not want investors to hold products that are inappropriate for their circumstances; something that was too often the case in the period pre-GFC (global financial crisis)," he said.
"We will be active in reviewing ads because they form an important part of the decision-making process of consumers."
ASIC released the final regulatory guides for the advertising of financial products, RG 234, yesterday.
During the public consultation period on the initial guide, submissions expressed concerns about ASIC's aim for advertisements to help consumers make appropriate decisions.
But ASIC decided not to change its position on the issue.
"Many respondents queried whether it was the role of advertising to help consumers make appropriate decisions, given the requirements for providing formal disclosure documents," the regulator said in a report on the submissions.
ASIC responded that it was not its intention to encourage consumers to make decisions based on advertisements alone.
"However, we believe that advertising can help consumers make appropriate decisions and have therefore retained this objective," it said.
"We have also made it clear that advertising is not a substitute for a formal disclosure document in a consumer's decision-making process."
ASIC had already lifted its scrutiny of advertisements, Kell said.
"Since July 2010, ASIC's actions have seen almost 120 financial services ads withdrawn or modified in response to concerns that we have pursued about poor practices or possibly misleading advertising," he said.
