On 3 February 2021, the High Court unanimously dismissed Westpac’s appeal in Westpac Securities Administration Ltd v ASIC [2021] HCA 3. It held that Westpac’s call centre operators, in making outbound calls to existing superannuation members, provided personal advice to retail clients in breach of AFSL conditions.

This is the first High Court pronouncement on the limits of a ‘general advice’ model, which will have wide-ranging implications for the life insurance, retail super and SMSF sectors, as well as industry super funds.

In this update, Wotton + Kearney Special Counsel Grant Covington explains how this significant decision increases risk for financial service providers and their insurers.

Click on download below to read the full update.