"The Australian Consumer Law applies to all advertising, including advertising in foreign languages," ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell said.

"Consumers who are unable to understand written English are likely to be more reliant on advertising in their native language when in need of a financial product.

"If the majority of the advertising is in a foreign language, the warnings, disclaimers or qualifications should be prominently disclosed in the same advertising and explained in that same language.

Since the investigation, the four brokers have removed or amended their advertisements.

Ace has agreed to remove its advertising offering low-doc loans without proof of income.

Aus Realty stopped offering "the lowest mortgage rate" at 4.14 per cent while Apex did the same with its 4.99 per cent offer.

Trans Australia Mortgage Finance did not provide comparison rates for its fixed and variable rates but has now complied.

Chinese buyers are the biggest foreign buyers of Australian residential property in the last three years when the market boomed.


Culturally, property is the most popular asset class for Chinese investors. In line with the boom, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, there has been an explosion of Mandarin-speaking mortgage brokers.

But not all Mandarin-speaking brokers are the same, bilingual mortgage broker Select Plus Mortgage Solutions' Jimmy Du said. "Not everyone's the same, and what happened represents a minority."

"Our aggregator keep us up to date. We play by the rules. We know about compliance and our aggregator educates us."

"These brokers might have used misleading advertising to attract clients first, but in the end they would still have to comply and offer the clients the correct rates and terms."

The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia agreed.

"Very occasionally we will hear an allegation of a consumer being misled as a result of member advertising," said head of marketing and communications, Stephen Hale.

"We would like to believe that these broking firms misunderstood the guidelines rather than acting to intentionally mislead their clients."

Mr Hale said all MFAA members were aware of their obligations to comply with clear advertising guidelines.

The MFAA will investigate one of the firms named – a member – but says it is satisfied with the member's prompt action to rectify its advertising.