ART has paid just under $20,000 to comply with an infringement notice issued by ASIC over allegedly misleading performance data published on its website.
In a statement on Friday, the corporate regulator said Australia’s second-largest superannuation fund has paid $18,780 to comply with an infringement notice issued by ASIC over allegedly misleading performance data published on the fund’s website.
According to ASIC, between July 2023 and July 2024, ART provided outdated performance data for its default MySuper product, the Lifecycle Investment Strategy.
The corporate regulator said that starting 18 July 2023, ART’s website showed incorrect fund performance figures on the 2023 Super Savings Product Dashboard, displaying results for the financial year ending June 2022 instead of the more recent year.
These outdated figures were higher than the actual performance recorded for the financial year ending June 2023.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said: “ASIC issued this infringement notice because we were worried that the outdated data published on ART’s website could lead consumers to believe that the Lifecycle Investment Strategy’s performance was better than it truly was.
“Superannuation is the largest asset of many Australians outside their family home. This notice is a reminder that it is imperative that Australian consumers are given accurate information to assess fund performance, especially in circumstances where they might be considering switching funds.”
ASIC said that payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of liability.
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