Check ASIC lists

Check up on 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
Check a financial adviser
Check an insurance broker or agent
Check cars, boats, furniture, art or jewellery
Check a product disclosure statement
Check a prospectus
Check banned advisers and company managers
Check a company
Check company auditors or liquidators
Check a bank, building society or credit union
Check a credit provider or broker

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.

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 $3.40, 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.

See ASIC's website to find out how the PPSR register relates to companies.

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.