Managed Investment Schemes
MISery for another 12,400 lured into losses
$1.2 billion in peril with the recent collapse of Shield Master Fund, First Guardian Master Fund and Australian Fiduciaries.
Six years after the banking royal commission exposed a quagmire of financial advice conflicts, poorly designed products and egregious failings in investment governance, it is all happening again.
Investors trapped by the collapse of three managed investment schemes have become the guinea pigs in a new era of soul-searching about why laws and regulations designed to protect superannuation savings are not working.
Shield and First Guardian were originally sold as diversified portfolios of liquid assets delivering higher returns than those available in industry super funds. Liquidators discovered they held a grab bag of illiquid assets, most of which are, in the opinion of many, valueless or out of the reach of creditors.
Australian Fiduciaries was placed in administration on 16 June at the behest of ASIC, which is investigating poor management of conflicts of interest, the methods used to sell units in the schemes, the suspected failure to conduct regular valuations, and the loss of value in the underlying assets.