Guides · Financial Services Guide · Chapter 5 of 7
Marketing and promotion of financial products
Last reviewed 29 August 2026
Advertising rules, the general advice warning, hidden advice risk in marketing copy, influencers and finfluencer exposure, and misleading conduct.
In short
Financial product advertising must not be misleading or deceptive, must present risk with equal prominence to benefit, must carry the general advice warning where it constitutes general advice, and must be consistent with the disclosure documents and target market determination. Marketing copy is also the most common place unlicensed personal advice is given.
Marketing is where regulated businesses most often create liability, because the people writing the copy are optimising for conversion and the obligations are drafted to suppress exactly the techniques that convert.
The baseline rules
- No misleading or deceptive conduct. Section 1041H of the Corporations Act and the equivalent ASIC Act provisions apply to conduct in relation to financial products and services. Intention is irrelevant; the overall impression created on the audience is what matters.
- Balance. Risks, fees, exclusions and conditions must be given prominence comparable to the benefits. Risk relegated to footnotes or hidden behind a "learn more" link is a recurring enforcement theme.
- Warnings and disclaimers. Where a communication is general advice to a retail client, the general advice warning must be given — that the advice does not take account of the person's objectives, financial situation or needs, and that they should consider the PDS.
- Consistency. Advertising must not conflict with the PDS or the target market determination. A campaign aimed outside the determined target market is a distribution breach as well as an advertising problem.
Claims that attract attention
- Returns and performance. Past performance presented without the basis of calculation, the period, fees, or a clear statement that it is not indicative of future performance.
- "Guaranteed", "secure", "capital protected", "risk-free". Only usable where literally accurate, and only with the mechanism and the guarantor's identity explained.
- Comparisons and rankings. Must compare like with like, disclose the criteria, and disclose any commercial arrangement affecting the ranking.
- Free, no-fee and rate claims. Conditions and qualifying criteria must sit with the claim.
- Sustainability claims. Greenwashing has been an enforcement priority. Screening, exclusion and net-zero claims need a documented, verifiable methodology behind them.
Hidden advice risk
The line between marketing and advice is thinner than most teams expect. Personalised email journeys keyed to a user's balance or profile, in-product prompts recommending a switch, and calculators that output a recommendation rather than a projection can all cross into personal advice. If it looks tailored to the recipient, treat it as advice until you can show otherwise.
Influencers, affiliates and third parties
Paying a third party to promote your financial product can make them your representative and can amount to them carrying on an unlicensed financial services business. It also makes their statements your problem. Any affiliate or influencer arrangement should specify approved copy, prohibit ad-libbed recommendations, require conspicuous disclosure of the commercial relationship, provide for pre-approval and takedown, and be monitored — not just contracted for.
An approval process that works
A defensible process has four features: named approver with authority, substantiation held for every factual and performance claim, a version-controlled record of what was published and when, and periodic review of live material — including landing pages and paid social, which are usually the least reviewed assets in the business.
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All chapters
- 01Do you need an AFSL?
- 02Authorisation pathways: your own licence or someone else's
- 03ASIC obligations once you are licensed
- 04Disclosure: FSGs, SOAs, PDSs and target market determinations
- 05Marketing and promotion of financial products
- 06Building a compliance framework that holds up
- 07Breach reporting, remediation and enforcement