Check ASIC lists
Check people, companies, schemes or
personal property
You can check basic facts about people, companies, schemes or
personal property. This is important before you get financial
advice, a loan or credit, buy financial products, or hand over your
money for a purchase or an investment.
ASIC and other government databases can tell you if these people
or companies are licensed or if property has money owing on
it. Be aware that a licence from ASIC does not mean that ASIC
endorses the company, financial product or advice or that you
cannot incur a loss from dealing with them. ASIC does not approve
business models. ASIC grants a licence if a business shows it can
meet basic standards such as training, compliance, insurance and
dispute resolution. The business is responsible for maintaining
these standards. Checking ASIC's databases should be only one of
the many checks you should do before you invest your money.
It is important to only deal with licensed people and businesses
as you are better protected if things go wrong and will have access
to free dispute resolution services. See our investing section
for more advice on this.
Check an investment
company or scheme
Is the investment scheme registered by ASIC and being offered by
a company licensed to sell this investment? Find out more at check an investment
company or scheme.
Check a financial
adviser
Is this person or company licensed by ASIC to give you advice or
sell you this investment? Find out more at check a financial
adviser.
Check an insurance
broker or agent
Ask the person you're buying insurance from if they are covered
by an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence. If they are not
covered by a licence, don't deal with them. If they say they are
covered by an AFS licence, ask them for the name of the licence
holder and check it on ASIC Connect's Professional Registers.
If they say they are an authorised representative you can
also check them on ASIC Connect's Professional Registers.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority also has a register
of insurers.
Read more about buying insurance.
Check cars, boats, furniture, art
or jewellery
If you are thinking about buying personal property valued over
$5000 from a private individual, for example a car, boat,
furniture, art or jewellery, you should make sure the property does
not have a security interest held over it.
To check for as little as $2.00, search the Personal Property
Securities Register (PPSR) kept by the Australian
Financial Security Authority (AFSA).
If you buy something that still has money owing on it, it could
be repossessed if it was used to secure a loan.
Check a product disclosure statement
(PDS)
If you're thinking about investing in listed managed investment
products (that is, investments that can be traded on a financial
market), then the PDS must be lodged with ASIC. To check, you can
search ASIC's OFFERlist database.
Ask the person you're talking to for the PDS of the product
they're trying to sell you. The PDS should set out enough detail
about the product for you to compare it to similar financial
products. Discuss any things you are unsure about in the PDS with
your financial adviser or the fund manager.
Find out more about managed funds.
Check a
prospectus
Check if the issuer has lodged a prospectus with ASIC's OFFERlist database.
Find out more about prospectuses.
Check banned advisers and
company managers
You can check ASIC Connect within 'banned and
disqualified' for the names of people who have been banned from
giving financial advice or directors who have been banned from
managing a company.
Check a company
To check if the company is registered as an Australian company,
search ASIC Connect within
the 'organisation and business names' search.
Remember that finding the company name on our register does
not mean it is a safe or legitimate company to deal with. You need
to do your own independent checks. To find out more go to the investing
section of our website.
If you want to keep an eye on what companies are doing,
subscribe to ASIC's free Company Alert service. You can enter
the names of companies you want to watch and you'll get an email
overnight to tell you what forms they've lodged.
Check company auditors or
liquidators
If you want to find out if a company auditor or liquidator is
registered, search ASIC Connect's Professional Registers.
Check a bank, building society or
credit union
To see if a bank, building society or credit union is authorised
to accept your money, see the Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority's List of
Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions.
Check on a credit provider or
broker
Credit providers and brokers that are not licensed are
operating illegally in Australia. Make sure you only deal with
a company or person who is licensed.
Use ASIC Connect's Professional
Registers to check your credit provider has been
licensed or you can phone ASIC's Infoline on 1300 300
630.
For more information see consumer credit
regulation.
Related links
Last updated: 12 Dec 2018