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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) received 708 complaints relating to the now collapsed Timbercorp and Great Southern managed investment schemes (MISs) last financial year.
This startling statistic has been revealed in an ASIC submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into agribusiness MISs along with the fact that there were 42 complaints about the two schemes in 2006-07 and 18 in 2007-08.
As well, the regulator revealed to the committee that over the past three years it had received 120 complaints about agribusiness MISs other than Timbercorp and Great Southern.
The ASIC submission has also painted an interesting picture of the investors tied up in the MISs, with most residing in Victoria and investing an average of around $24,000.
The regulator’s analysis said that between 2006 and 2009, 6,180 investors invested in the Timbercorp schemes and 17,833 investors invested in the Great Southern schemes, with the majority of investors in both the Great Southern and Timbercorp schemes.
It said 89 per cent of investors in the Great Southern schemes between 2006 and 2009 had less than $100,000 invested, with the median investment amount being $24,000 and the mean investment amount being $50,447.
ASIC said 80 per cent of investors in Timbercorp schemes between 2006 and 2009 had less than $100,000 invested with the median amount being $37,500 and the mean investment amount being $71,318.
