Financial adviser registration

Terms and Conditions

1. You acknowledge that you are engaged by your Licensee and do not become an employee of, or contractor to, the Trustee by virtue of acceptance of these terms and conditions and registration with AustralianSuper by the Trustee.

2. The Trustee may ask you or your Licensee to provide documents and information and execute any documentation the Trustee reasonably requires before it will approve your registration with AustralianSuper as a Financial Adviser. Where any information is provided for the purposes of registration, the Trustee will only use this for the purposes of managing your registration as a Financial Adviser and any ongoing assurance which the Trustee reasonably conducts in connection with your registration. 

3. The Trustee may grant its approval of your registration as a Financial Adviser pursuant to the terms of the LARA, where such approval is not to be unreasonably withheld. The Trustee may also, at any time where the Trustee considers (acting reasonably) that such withdrawal of approval is necessary or desirable to protect its legitimate interests or the interests of beneficiaries of AustralianSuper, or to comply with the law, withdraw its approval of your registration as a Financial Adviser with AustralianSuper. If the Trustee gives you or your Licensee a notice about the withdrawal of approval of your registration as a Financial Adviser, you will cease to be a registered Financial Adviser with AustralianSuper from the date specified by the Trustee in the notice.

4. You acknowledge that the Trustee is under a legal obligation to determine whether an advice fee may properly be deducted from an AustralianSuper Member’s AustralianSuper account. You understand that the Trustee, acting reasonably, may decline requests to deduct advice fees from a Member’s AustralianSuper account.

Obligations

5. You agree you will;

(a) comply with; 

(i) all laws and regulations related to the provision of financial products and services, including;

(A) any requirement to provide your clients with product disclosure statements, financial service guides, Statements of Advice or any other disclosures required by relevant laws and regulations; and

(B) any regulatory guides (with which a reasonably prudent member of the financial services industry would comply), directions, determinations, guidelines, prudential standards, prudential practice guides, covenants, class orders, conditions under any instrument of approval or licences issued by a relevant regulator, including the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, in relation to the provision of financial products and services;

(C) all other requirements, code of ethics, standards or directions imposed or issued under any applicable Australian law or by a relevant regulator; and

(D) any reasonable written instructions issued by the Trustee from time to time in relation to the provision of services to members or prospective members of AustralianSuper;

(b) fairly and accurately represent AustralianSuper's products to members or prospective members of AustralianSuper and not make any statement in relation to those products or financial services to be provided to members or prospective members of AustralianSuper which is inaccurate, misleading or untrue;

(c) not make any representation, warranty, projection or the like in relation to the performance of any AustralianSuper product unless it is authorised in writing by the Trustee or is part of a personal advice recommendation contained in a Statement of Advice or Record of Advice;

(d) not complete or sign any application form on behalf of any member or prospective member of AustralianSuper, unless duly authorised to do so or under a valid power of attorney;

(e) make payments to the Trustee in respect of applications by electronic funds transfer or by cheque, and ensure that all such cheques are made payable as specified in the relevant product disclosure statement, and that all payments are forwarded to the Trustee with the completed application form, unless an alternative form of payment is agreed by the Trustee;

(f) not prepare, issue, distribute or circulate any material by way of advertising or otherwise in which AustralianSuper or the Trustee, or any reference to AustralianSuper or the Trustee, appears other than as issued or approved in writing by the Trustee;

(g) not contract any debt or liability for the Trustee or AustralianSuper, or seek to bind the Trustee or AustralianSuper, in any way except as otherwise stated or allowed under these terms and conditions or the LARA;

(h) hold secure all material, including but not limited to, sales support materials, disclosure statements, computer programmes, promotional statements and other documentation in relation to the Products supplied by the Trustee;

(i) obtain and keep current any appropriate registration, authority or licence from the Licensee or from any relevant regulator or association as is necessary for you to provide financial services to a member or prospective member of AustralianSuper;

(j) advise your Licensee and the Trustee immediately if your registration, authority or licence is suspended, cancelled or varied or if conditions are imposed on or added to such registration, authority or licence that may affect your compliance with the Financial Planners and Advisers Code of Ethics;

(k) provide the Trustee on request with written evidence that you hold the appropriate authority, registration or licence;

(l) have at all times appropriate training, experience and qualifications to provide the financial services;

(m) to the extent that you make a request for a fee to be deducted from a member's AustralianSuper account, comply with a request from the Trustee to provide documentation substantiating that fee deduction request,  including but not limited to a Statement of Advice, Record of Advice, Fee Disclosure Statement or any other agreement or consent relating to the payment of advice fees; and

(n) to the extent that an Ongoing Fee Arrangement is in place with a member or prospective member of AustralianSuper, comply with clause 5(a) of these terms and conditions insofar as they prescribe obligations in relation to Ongoing Fee Arrangements and provide the Trustee with information and documents, as reasonably requested, in relation to an Ongoing Fee Arrangement;

Making a request to deduct a fee

6. If you make a request for a fee to be deducted from a member's AustralianSuper account, you must make that request in accordance with this section 6:

(a).  Any fee which you seek to charge to the Trustee or deduct from a member's AustralianSuper account must be on a fee-for-service basis only;

(b). You must not inform your client that they might be able to have an advice fee paid via deduction from their AustralianSuper account, unless;

(i).   you are registered with AustralianSuper as a Financial Adviser;

(ii).  you have an arrangement in place with your client for the provision of financial product advice and the payment of fees is in respect of the provision of advice;

(iii). the advice fees are sought to be deducted in connection with the provision of financial product advice in relation to the member's interest in AustralianSuper;

(c). You may only request an advice fee be deducted from a member’s AustralianSuper account in connection with the provision of financial product advice to the member in relation to the member’s interest in AustralianSuper;

(d). You may only request an advice fee be deducted from a member’s AustralianSuper account which is invested in the AustralianSuper Balanced (MySuper) option (AustralianSuper MySuper Account), if the advice fee is not an ongoing fee (that is, the fee must not be a fee which is payable under an ongoing fee arrangement between you and the member or your Licensee and the member). If you make a request to deduct an advice fee from an AustralianSuper MySuper Account that is payable under an ongoing fee arrangement the Trustee will refuse to pay that fee.

(e). Unless otherwise approved by the Trustee, the total advice fee deduction requests permitted to be submitted within a 12 month period for an AustralianSuper member cannot exceed the lower of (GST inclusive):

(i). $5,500; or

(ii). 2.5% of the balance of the member’s AustralianSuper account at the time of the deduction. Where the member has more than one AustralianSuper account, the 2.5% cap will apply to the combined balances of the member’s AustralianSuper accounts. 

AustralianSuper Product Training

7. You understand that you must complete the AustralianSuper product training and pass the associated test within two months of submitting this form to become registered.

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