propertymentors.com.aua guide with the questions in the margin

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Checking a licence: the registers behind the claims

Which register to check depends on what someone offers: personal financial advice shows on Moneysmart’s financial advisers register, financial services and credit licences on ASIC’s professional registers, and estate agents on the state’s register (Victoria’s and NSW’s are below). A listing shows a licence exists; Moneysmart says it does not mean ASIC endorses the business or that an investment is safe.

General information, not financial or legal advice. This page summarises Moneysmart, ASIC, the ATO and two state registers. The registers themselves are the record: ASIC’s professional registers and the financial advisers register.

Which register, for what

ASIC’s professional registers search covers several registers at once, including Australian financial services (AFS) licensees and their authorised representatives, credit licensees and credit representatives, registered managed investment schemes and approved SMSF auditors. Financial advisers are listed separately, on Moneysmart’s financial advisers register.

Matching what someone offers to the place it can be checked
If they offerWhat the source saysWhere to look
Personal advice on investments, super or life insuranceAdvisers who give it must appear on the register, and Moneysmart says one who is not listed cannot legally give that personal advice. The register shows where they have worked, their qualifications and training, professional memberships and the products they can advise on. Financial advisers register
Advice on setting up an SMSFMoneysmart says anyone giving SMSF advice must hold an AFS licence or be authorised by a licensee, and that this includes property developers who give that advice. Financial advisers register
Help to get a loanMoneysmart says a mortgage broker should hold a licence to give credit advice, or be a representative of a licensee, and points to the credit licensee and credit representative lists. ASIC professional registers
An investment in a schemeMoneysmart says to check that a registered managed investment scheme is on the register, and notes that registration does not mean ASIC endorses the investment. ASIC professional registers
To act for you in buying a property (Victoria)Consumer Affairs Victoria counts acting for buyers as a buyer’s agent among an estate agent’s roles, and says doing that work needs an estate agent’s licence or employment as an agent’s representative by a licensed agent. Victoria’s public register of estate agents
A licence or registration in New South WalesVerify NSW is a NSW Government search of public records for licence and registration information, covering tradespeople, registered professionals and business details. Verify NSW

In other states and territories, the ACCC notes that most consumer protection agencies also oversee licensed industries such as real estate agents; it lists each agency on its consumer help page.

AskIf they say they are licensed, under which licence number, and does the name on the register match?

Three checks on the people behind a seminar

For the people who set up, market or run a scheme promoted at a seminar, Moneysmart lists three checks. In its order, see whether they:

  • are listed as banned or disqualified on ASIC’s professional registers
  • appear on the ACCC’s undertakings registers
  • have faced action from the consumer protection agency in your state or territory.

Moneysmart adds a caution: a clean result on these checks does not prove that a scheme is legal or safe.

AskClean registers aside, can I explain how this investment makes its money?

What a register cannot tell you

  1. A licence is not an endorsement. Moneysmart says holding an AFS licence does not mean ASIC endorses the company, its products or its advice, and does not guarantee the investment is safe.
  2. Licence details can be borrowed. Moneysmart warns that scammers claim licences, use another business’s licence number or impersonate a licensed business, and says to match the licence holder’s name and number on ASIC’s registers to the business being promoted.
  3. The adviser register is filled in by the industry. Moneysmart says the information on the financial advisers register comes from licensees and their representatives, and ASIC does not check it before it goes on.
  4. A company is not a licence. Moneysmart says company registration alone does not mean a company is licensed or authorised to provide financial services.
  5. Old bans may sit elsewhere. Advisers who were banned or disqualified, or gave an enforceable undertaking, before 31 March 2015 and have not returned to advice are on ASIC’s banned or disqualified register or its enforceable undertakings register, not the financial advisers register.

Other professionals around a property deal

The ATO says that if you use a tax agent for an SMSF, you can check their registration with the Tax Practitioners Board, and that licensed financial advisers are registered with ASIC. ASIC’s Information Sheet 274 adds that SMSF auditors must be registered with ASIC as approved SMSF auditors before they can sign off an SMSF audit report.

The financial advisers register also shows disciplinary action, such as a ban from providing financial services, a ban from credit activities, or an enforceable undertaking accepted by ASIC or the Financial Services and Credit Panel.

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Sources