The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has outlined its enforcement priorities for 2024.
ASIC has added new priorities related to insurance claims handling, compliance with financial hardship obligations, and the reportable situation regime. It also added new priorities related to superannuation, including addressing member services failures and misconduct related to the erosion of superannuation balances.
“Our goal is to create a culture of compliance across Australia's financial system and the corporate sector more generally through decisive and high-profile enforcement action,” ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said at the ASIC Annual Forum in Melbourne.
Aside from adding priorities related to insurance and superannuation, ASIC will focus on addressing misconduct related to used car financing to vulnerable customers and gatekeepers such as auditors, registered liquidators, and financial services and credit licensees who fail to comply with their legal obligations.
The corporate watchdog will also focus on improving technology and operational resilience for market operators and participants to maintain market integrity as Australian financial markets continue to transition to the digital world.
“We must test the scope of the laws that Parliament has enacted to protect market integrity, consumers, and investors to ensure those laws have a wide protective application. Where the law is complex, new, or open to interpretation, we are not doing our job if we do not fully explore its reach,” Court said. “Our goal is to create a culture of compliance across Australia's financial system and the corporate sector more generally through decisive and high-profile enforcement action.”
This month, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones highlighted ASIC's new scam website takedown capability, which removes or limits access to fraudulent and malicious websites on the internet.
