Managing Conflicts of Interest

What Drives InfoChoice?

InfoChoice exists to help people save money. To do this, it generates relevant and factual information which is freely accessible to anyone visiting its website or accessing the content through other digital channels including email subscriptions, Facebook, LinkedIn and various other social media.

It must present this information in a way which can be easily consumed, free of charge and in a sustainable manner. So whether it be more educational in nature or simple tips and ‘life-hacks’, there is a substantial investment of time and resources (employees, computer systems, regulatory compliance, etc.) made by InfoChoice to curate, house and maintain the content. Most importantly for InfoChoice however, above all of these commitments, is for it to demonstrate that it is worthy of its audiences’ trust.

Achieving a Balance

This critical trust element is underpinned by InfoChoice’s efforts to manage the balance between sustaining its commercial operations whilst maintaining an uncompromising focus on its purpose which is to genuinely help people save money.

The key component of commercial sustainability for an operation like InfoChoice is generating revenue. A more detailed account of how InfoChoice generates revenue can be read here How We Get Paid, but for the purpose of this explanation, InfoChoice earns revenue by connecting (generally) financial product suppliers (eg. banks, building societies, credit unions, etc..) to those parts of the InfoChoice audience which are in market, and whom see value in the contextually relevant products published within the content.

Our Editorial Team Operates Separately from our Commercial Team

So what drives the content, the potential to generate revenue or the focus on helping people save money? The answer for InfoChoice is to always start first with the latter. We write content on which we know people in the community are searching for answers and seeking help for. If this content generates opportunities for the InfoChoice team to connect the ensuing audience to products that it believes align with the contextual purpose of the content, then it will publish those products within the content and make available the opportunity to connect product provider/s to this audience via a commercial relationship. Importantly, InfoChoice frequently publishes products within its editorial content whether there is a commercial relationship in place with a product provider or not.

InfoChoice’s Licensing Responsibilities and Obligations

InfoChoice operates as an Australian Financial Services Licensee and an Australian Credit Licensee, Number 349445, of Level 40, 123 Eagle Street, Brisbane Qld 4000. These licensing regimes require material effort to ensure that InfoChoice remains within their strict compliance frameworks – a responsibility which InfoChoice takes very seriously.

Any advice provided or perceived from InfoChoice content is intended to be general in nature (eg. not Personal Advice where a person’s individual circumstances and needs are taken into account).

InfoChoice’s Family

InfoChoice is part of the Firstmac Group. As such, it has a number of ‘sister’ brands including the online lender, ‘Loans.com.au’. As was previously mentioned around the separation of editorial and commercial interests within the InfoChoice operation, the same applies in relation to the deterrence of any commercial influence over any aspect of the InfoChoice operation from other sister brands within the Firstmac Group.

In essence, InfoChoice sister brands will be treated in the same manner as any other product provider looking to connect with the InfoChoice audience. If the Savings editorial team judge that products from a sister brand do not meet the purpose test of ‘helping consumers save money’ within the context of that particular piece of curated content, then they will not be included in the editorial content– regardless of the monetary opportunity on offer to InfoChoice.