Australia's corporate watchdog is suing Interprac — the licensee that oversaw financial planners — over alleged failures that led to the collapses of the Shield and First Guardian schemes.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is also suing ratings agency SQM Research, saying its "processes fell short of expected standards when it published 'favourable' ratings for the Shield Master Fund".

ASIC is also taking action against MWL Financial Services, former director Nicholas Maikousis, and lead generator Imperial Capital Group Australia over alleged Shield advice failures.

On the day ASIC unveiled its hit list for the year ahead, it said a key focus was prosecuting people involved in the collapses of the First Guardian and Shield schemes, which led to people losing over $1 billion of their retirement savings.

ASIC alleges thousands of Australians were exposed to poor financial advice and significant risks from the Shield and First Guardian schemes through critical oversight and compliance failures by Interprac.

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ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said after already taking legal action against Macquarie — which has agreed to pay Shield investors back their money, and Equity Trustees, which is defending the legal case against it — the corporate watchdog could go after other superannuation trustees that hosted First Guardian on their platforms, Netwealth and Diversa.

"What we are talking about here is an industrial scale misconduct that involved a range of players," Ms Court said at a press conference after ASIC's announcement on Thursday.

She said it ended up with the involvement of superannuation trustees who put the funds on their platforms and allowed retail investors in their hundreds to invest through the regulated superannuation scheme.

"Our view very much is that those trustees had an important responsibility to do the right thing by their members, to look very closely at the funds that they were putting on and making available," she said.

ASIC alleges Interprac representatives gave 'poor advice'

ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the