Advice practitioners will be expected to play a role in identifying financial abuse among their clients after a parliamentary joint committee found SMSFs were being used to carry out that behaviour, according to SMSF Association policy manager Keddie Waller.
Speaking at the association’s recent National Conference 2026, Waller said the Financial Services Regulatory Framework in Relation to Financial Abuse report released in early 2024 found that in some cases victims were being coerced to set up an SMSF and roll over their super from their Australian Prudential Regulation Authority-regulated fund, to then have the abuser withdraw that money.
“A particular example in this report was the victim didn’t know about it until they went to get their funds, because there’s a break-up, and all the money was gone and there was no recourse,” she told the conference held in Adelaide.
“One of the other things that came up was coerced directorships and that’s relevant to us because it means when we’re looking at trustees we need to think about the people in front of us.
“When we have a mum and dad or husband and wife in front of us, are we talking to both parties? Are we ensuring the other person is not being coerced into doing this? Do we even have both parties in the room?
“So we expect there will be a reform coming off the back of that because the government has said they are committed to preventing financial abuse through the financial services system.”
She noted the report emphasised the role of intermediaries and professionals and raised the question of penalties if they did not fulfil obligations to deal with financial abuse.
“You need to think about your role, your processes, your client engagement, to make sure you are very clear and you’re going through all those conversations with both parties,” she stated.
“A few years ago, we started talking about elder abuse, and this issue is much wider.
“Please put this on your radar and start looking at the available resources out there to start educating yourself and your team because I can guarantee off the back of that consultation paper there is momentum from the government that they will be looking at the role of professionals.”
