Lead generators referred 7,639 new clients to 15 financial advice licensees, and more than $678 million was switched or invested as a result, about 90% of it from super, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has found.
ASIC published the findings on Monday 9 November in media release 26-270MR and Report 845, “Lead generation advice models: Putting consumers and licensees at risk”. The review covered 1 January 2025 to 1 June 2026, and the referred clients made up 35% of all new clients at the licensees reviewed.
Initial fees came to $9.8 million, ASIC said, with $4.5 million more in ongoing fees.
What ASIC Found
Some licensees let lead generators do fact-finding and risk profiling, and discuss advice recommendations with clients, according to ASIC. Some lead generators used potentially misleading statements, fear-based claims and performance comparisons that were not like for like.
ASIC also found weak controls. These included limited access to call recordings, heavy reliance on manual supervision, weak monitoring of product patterns and no limits on how many clients an adviser could take on. Five licensees had no controls to prohibit or identify high-risk super switching, the ABC and The Sydney Morning Herald reported, and four more ran businesses with some features of it, according to the ABC.
The ABC described how the model works. Telemarketers use social media advertising and phone calls to find people and pass them to licensed advisers, who then switch their super out of funds regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. In one case, a lead generator helped implement the advice. Australia’s super sector holds $4.3 trillion, the ABC reported.
“ASIC’s work in recent years has exposed how business models involving slick sales tactics to convince people to switch their super can expose Australians to serious financial harm,” ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said in the release. He added: “Far too often, we have seen how harmful lead generation practices can steer people towards investment choices that leave them worse off.”
He was also critical of the licensees. “The poor approach to oversight taken by some licensees is unacceptable, particularly considering the scale and volume of business generated from these arrangements,” Mr Kirkland said. “Licensees must ensure that only authorised advisers provide personal advice, and that those advisers act in the best interests of their clients.”
Lead generation is not necessarily illegal, Mr Kirkland told the Herald, but giving personal advice without a licence is, and so is a licensee allowing it. “We have already issued multiple consumer warnings, we have banned financial advisers, we have cancelled financial services licenses, and we’ve taken formal action through the courts,” he said.
ASIC said it has banned two advisers for five years over super advice models that involved third-party marketers. The collapse of two investment schemes left about 12,000 investors losing more than $1 billion, the ABC and the Herald reported, citing ASIC.
The government announced proposed reforms on 19 August 2026, including curbs on harmful lead generation, according to ASIC. The ABC reported that unlicensed cold callers will be banned under the reforms. ASIC’s list of known lead-generation entities held 44 names in February 2026, and 19 were added in June.
“Good advisers don’t need to cold call people to get clients,” Xavier O’Halloran of Super Consumers Australia told the ABC. “These businesses are turning people’s retirement savings into a cash cow. The more people they convince to switch, the more money they make, regardless of whether the advice is actually any good.”
This article is general information only and is not financial advice. Readers can check an adviser’s details on Moneysmart’s Financial Advisers Register.
Warning Signs ASIC Wants You to Know
Speaking to the Herald, Mr Kirkland said: “If you receive a call from anybody wanting to talk to you about your superannuation, that in itself is a warning sign. They’ll often start out sounding really friendly and helpful.”
Lead generators often open with an offer such as a super health check or super review, he said. “When those investments go south, people can lose everything,” he told the Herald.
ASIC lists these warning signs:
- pressure to act immediately
- claims that your fund is underperforming
- free super “health checks”, or prizes such as gift cards
- offers to find “lost super” for free
- unlicensed people taking part in the advice process
- contact that is mostly by phone, with little contact with an adviser
- poor or no product disclosure
- promises of high returns
ASIC also points people to the Financial Advisers Register, and to the ATO’s website to compare MySuper products or find lost super.
Our Consumer Affairs section carries more reporting on regulators and consumer protection.
Sources: ASIC, “26-270MR ASIC’s final warning to licensees: using lead generators may put your licence at risk”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2026-releases/26-270mr-asic-s-final-warning-to-licensees-using-lead-generators-may-put-your-licence-at-risk); ABC News, “Questionable sales tactics prompting Aussies to switch super”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-11-09/asic-warns-firms-using-lead-generators-to-push-super-switching/107356376); The Sydney Morning Herald, “The ‘immediate warning sign’ to protect your super”, 9 November 2026 (https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/the-immediate-warning-sign-to-protect-your-super-20261109-p61c3q.html)
Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A hand grips a black telephone receiver. A stock photograph chosen to stand for the cold calls ASIC describes; nobody in it is linked to the review.
