ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Equity Trustees Superannuation Limited (Equity Trustees), alleging failures in care, skill and diligence concerning the decision to allow members to invest in the First Guardian Master Fund (First Guardian).
Over $65 million was invested in First Guardian between June 2023 and March 2024 by around 2,700 members of NQ Super & Pension, a division of the AMG Superannuation Fund for which Equity Trustees was the trustee.
ASIC alleges that Equity Trustees did not obtain critical information before onboarding First Guardian such as its constitution, audited financial accounts or an audit of its compliance plan. Further, ASIC alleges that Equity Trustees allowed its members to invest 100% of their funds in First Guardian despite evidence it was or may have been illiquid.
ASIC is seeking compensation for members for losses resulting from the alleged failures by Equity Trustees in relation to First Guardian, as well as declarations and civil penalties.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said the latest action is part of ASIC's 2026 enforcement priority into the collapse of First Guardian and related funds.
'We allege that a prudent superannuation trustee in Equity Trustees' position would not have approved the First Guardian classes as investment options based on the information it had available.'
'Superannuation trustees play a critical role helping their members save for retirement, but we allege Equity Trustees failed to put the interests of their members first,' the Deputy Chair said.
ASIC alleges Equity Trustees:
- Failed to exercise the same degree of care, skill and diligence as a prudent superannuation trustee would in onboarding the different classes of First Guardian
- Failed to act in the best financial interests of members when performing its duties and exercising its powers in relation to First Guardian
- Failed to do all things necessary to ensure the financial services covered by its Australian financial services licence were provided efficiently, honestly and fairly.
'This is the second action we've taken against Equity Trustees and the fifth against a super trustee as part of our First Guardian and Shield Master Fund investigations.
'ASIC has now commenced proceedings against every super trustee that made available Shield or First Guardian. More than $420 million has been repaid to thousands of investors through ASIC's work to date. We currently have more than 26 matters under investigation or before the Federal Court and we expect further action to follow,' the Deputy Chair said.
Background
ASIC alleges Equity Trustees contravened s52 and 54B of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) and s912A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Equity Trustees, as trustee for the AMG Superannuation Fund, approved three classes of the First Guardian Master Fund (Defensive, Diversified and Growth) as investment options on the NQ Super platform.
Equity Trustees is a subsidiary of EQT Holdings Limited, an entity listed on the ASX (ASX: EQT). Equity Trustees is an Australian Financial Services licensee, superannuation trustee and registrable superannuation entity (RSE) licensee of fourteen APRA-registered superannuation funds.
ASIC also has ongoing civil penalty proceedings against Equity Trustees in relation to the onboarding and ongoing monitoring of the Shield Master Fund (25-176MR).
