The Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC) has issued warning alerts to 18 “social media” suspected of illegally promoting high -risk financial products and providing financial advice to Australians as part of a worldwide action week against illegal financial finances.
Last week, ASIC and regulators from the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Hong Kong and Canada took over coordinated actions to break unauthorized Finfluencers.
Together, the nine regulatory authorities used a combination of regulatory powers and enforcement, including arrests, warnings, warnings, removal of websites, educational programs with finished finfluencers programs and consumer awareness programs to put them in Consumers for the dangers of unauthorized and misleading fins.
ASIC’s current concerns are the Finfluencers who are placed as so -called commercial experts who provide unauthorized tips on financial products and promoting high -risk complex products that can cause real consumer damage, such as CFDs (CFDs).
The content of the social media is often accompanied by misleading or misleading performances on the prospects of success from the products or commercial strategies they promote, sharing images of rich lifestyles, sportswear and other luxury products.
If a Finfluencer does not have a license, an authorized representative or exemption, it is not legally allowed to continue to provide investment advice to Australia.
Investors and consumers can control Finfluencers’ credentials using the Asic Professional Registries tool.
Recent MoneySmart study found that 41% of young Australians are looking for financial information or advice from sources on the internet, such as social media, including Finfluencers.
The licensing provisions under the 2001 companies Act (ACT) apply to people who practice financial services in Australia. This includes people who provide tips on financial products or take care of a person to deal with a financial product. Continuing a financial services undertaking that is not licensed in Australia is a crime under the law, unless approved as a representative of a licensee or is based on exemption.
The law imposes significant sanctions, including up to five years in prison for individual and financial sanctions on millions of dollars for a company.
The law also prohibits behavior that is misleading or misleading or is likely to mislead or deceive in relation to financial products or services. A Finfluencer does not need to be permitted to violate misleading or misleading bans.
In December 2022, the Federal Court found that Finfluencer Tyson Robert Scholz violated S911A of the Law on Companies by exercising a financial service business (between March 2020 and November 2021) without Australian financial services.