Wealth Within pays $20,400 after ASIC infringement notices
Wealth Within, a company specialising in education, investments, SMSF, property and finance, has paid $20,400 in penalties after being issued two infringement notices by ASIC for misleading online advertisements through their websites.
The advertisements were in relation to their individiually managed account services, the Direct Equity Managed Account Service. One ad that ran online from 30 June 2011 to 5 March 2013 was found to 'overstate' the true returns for the portfolios being advertised.
A second advertisement from 5 March 2013 to 17 October 2013 could have mislead investors into believing that the returns they could personally achieve would match or be similar to those advertised. ASIC discovered that each investor would have a differing return, due to the nature of the service.
Deputy chairman for ASIC, Peter Kell, said that they would continue monitoring all forms of advertisements to help consumers make informed decisions.
"Consumers make important financial decisions based on the advertisements they see, read or hear. It is vital that organisations promote their product in a way that is not misleading in any way," he said.
ASIC notes that the payment of an infringement notice is not an admission of a contravention of the Act.
ASIC has recently been fairly bullish on taking action against misleading advertising, including fining Media Super in January. SMSF 'SuperHelp' magazine advertising also saw themselves paying a fine last month.
