The call came one late afternoon. At the other end of the line, boasting a refined English accent, was “Nigel Greenday”, who introduced himself as a senior superannuation planner with ASAL Group, which he described as a specialist in assisting people manage their self-managed super funds.

He had his pitch down perfect; it certainly wasn’t a hard sell. But the claim that ASAL was a fully owned subsidiary of a named major financial institution that had been in the market for 35 years made my ears prick up. I have been in the financial services industry for all that time in various roles with different organisations, yet had never heard of it.