The restructure of personnel at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has already produced positive results, with regulator data indicating investigations have risen by 50 per cent and new civil proceedings increasing by 20 per cent.
The staff reorganisation has seen the appointment of a new chief executive, new commissioners and a refreshed executive team.
“That transformation is key to ensuring ASIC can continue to serve the Australian community,” ASIC chair Joe Longo noted.
“The operating environment for our financial ecosystem is increasingly complicated and that requires a well-calibrated response from ASIC, which we have detailed with our corporate plan.
“We direct our efforts and finite resources to areas where we see the greatest risks and potential harms. In some cases, that means continuing work already underway, such as our efforts to combat high-risk super switching. In other cases, this means pivoting to new or emerging issues or causes for concern.”
Longo pointed out the regulator’s corporate plan contained new initiatives, such as reviews of SMSF establishment advice, offset accounts and debt collection, and whistle-blower protections.
“That is in addition to key work on the roadmap for our public and private capital markets, holding superannuation trustees to account for Australians’ retirement savings and, of course, our inquiry into the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) to ensure Australia has stable, secure and resilient market infrastructure,” he said.
“This plan demonstrates our commitment to being a modern, confident and ambitious regulator.”
According to Longo, ASIC’s focus is on simplifying its regulation procedures.
“A focus on simpler and better regulation is now a concrete part of ASIC’s 2025 to 2029 plan and will see the agency continue that focus to make it easier to interact with ASIC, to understand our expectations, for us to administer the law and ultimately to cut red tape,” he explained.
The regulator has also incorporated new performance measures to assess the effectiveness of its own activities, a move designed to enable stakeholders to gain a better understanding of its impact.
