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The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) is urging its broker members to exercise caution when advertising their services, particularly across social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, where short-form content can easily stray into regulatory danger zones.
The MFAA has noted that while brokers increasingly rely on social media to attract and educate clients, the format of these platforms often clashes with strict compliance requirements. High-impact “social tiles” and Google ads often have character limits that make it difficult to include necessary qualifications or context, it said.
As such, the broker association has uploaded a resource to its member portal that includes specific guidance for brokers on advertising and marketing. This guide, available in the Broker Toolbox, provides practical examples of how educational content can unintentionally cross the line into unlicensed financial product advice.
Speaking of the guides, MFAA CEO Anja Pannek commented: “We know the use of social platforms is an important element of how brokers engage and attract clients. Consumers are also increasingly using social platforms to educate themselves.
“The guide recognises how marketing and ‘educational’ content, particularly on social media, can stray into misleading conduct or unlicensed financial product advice. This guide provides practical, broker-relevant examples aligned with ASIC’s expectations, helping brokers manage compliance risk while continuing to engage with consumers.”
ASIC in the midst of updating regulatory guide
The warning comes as the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) sharpens its focus on financial marketing. It is currently updating its Regulatory Guide 234 (RG 234), which outlines good practice for avoiding false or misleading advertising.
The regulator’s heightened scrutiny has been driven by a rise in “finfluencer” activity, online spruiking, and the promotion of complex financial structures – such as SMSFs and trusts – through oversimplified digital content.
ASIC has already taken action in the Federal Court against a broker who used a calculator to claim clients could pay off debt sooner, without disclosing that this required significant additional repayments.
Other areas of concern flagged by ASIC in its draft regulatory guide include:
- “Debt-free” claims: Brokers marketing debt consolidation loans as a way to become debt-free when it is simply a restructuring of existing debt.
- Success rates: Claims of a “100 per cent success rate”, which may falsely imply that credit is guaranteed regardless of responsible lending obligations.
- Lender panels: ASIC’s draft guidance suggests it may be misleading for a broker to claim they offer a “wide range of lenders” if they only frequently use one or two.
As reported by our sister brand The Adviser, the MFAA has now provided nine recommendations to ASIC to improve its draft guidance.
In its formal response to ASIC’s consultation on RG 234, the broker association advocated:
- Clearer differentiation between mortgage and finance brokers (ensuring terms like “mortgage broker” are only used by those appropriately authorised under the National Credit Act).
- Better reflecting what a broker does and how many lenders they have access to.
- Ensuring brokers aren’t held liable for the underlying assumptions of third-party calculators provided by aggregators or lenders.
- Updating language to reflect that brokers must assess multiple options from a broad panel to meet their legal obligations.
The MFAA’s submission also requested that ASIC provide a social media checklist that gives clear “minimum wording” for digital ads to help brokers remain compliant and more “workable” guidelines for the industry, noting that the majority of brokerage firms are small businesses with limited resources.
As the “finfluencer” crackdown continues, the association is stressing that even well-intentioned “educational” posts must be clear, balanced, and accurate to avoid the heavy hand of the regulator.
“Brokers should assume that advertising and marketing practices are firmly on ASIC’s radar. Even well-intentioned content can create compliance risk if it is unclear, over-simplified or taken out of context, particularly online,” said MFAA CEO Anja Pannek.
[Related: Regulators crack down on ‘finfluencers’]