The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reported a lift in its enforcement work while laying out its forward priorities in its latest corporate plan.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said the regulator’s refreshed leadership team, including new commissioners and a new chief executive, has supported stronger activity levels.
Over the past year, ASIC initiated 252 formal investigations, up from 168 the previous year, and commenced 38 civil court actions compared with 32 in the prior period.
“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,” he said.
He added that the regulator is focusing its resources on areas of greatest potential harm, ranging from superannuation switching practices to debt collection, offset accounts, whistleblower protections, and advice provided around self-managed superannuation fund establishments.
“This plan demonstrates our commitment to being a modern, confident, and ambitious regulator,” Longo said.
The plan outlines more than a dozen new reviews, while also confirming ongoing oversight of capital market infrastructure, superannuation trustees, and the inquiry into the ASX.
According to Longo, simplifying the regulatory environment has become a key part of ASIC’s strategy.
“Less than a year ago I convened the ASIC Simplification Consultative Group to consider what we can do to reduce regulatory complexity and help Australians navigate it,” he said. “A focus on simpler and better regulation is now a concrete part of ASIC’s 2025-29 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.”
The plan also introduces a broader set of performance measures designed to show stakeholders how ASIC assesses and tracks its own impact.
Alongside the corporate plan release, ASIC has extended relief for insurers and brokers relating to incidental retail cover.
The Corporations (Incidental Retail Cover) Instrument 2022/716, which had been scheduled to expire in August, will remain in effect for another five years.
The exemption applies when wholesale policies include a small, inseparable retail component – such as cover for employees’ belongings within a business property policy.
It removes the need for insurers and intermediaries to apply retail client obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 in these cases.
ASIC said the continuation of the relief avoids unnecessary compliance costs and confirmed that it will review the instrument in line with experience and stakeholder input.
ASIC has also called on life insurers to strengthen their direct-to-consumer sales practices, following a review covering 2021 to 2024.
Commissioner Alan Kirkland said insurers need to use complaints and cancellation data more effectively to refine their products and sales processes.
He noted that disputes in direct life sales have more than doubled since ASIC’s 2018 review, indicating ongoing issues.
ASIC has advised insurers to link sales staff incentives to compliance and customer outcomes rather than volume, ensure retention calls are handled consistently and without pressure, and make cancellations straightforward.
The regulator also urged companies to use complaints data across business units as a source of operational intelligence.
