The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has stopped including residential addresses of company officeholders in company extracts purchased through its website, a step that changes how insurers and intermediaries can access director information for risk, compliance, and investigative purposes. From Feb. 2, residential addresses no longer appear on purchased extracts, although they remain on ASIC’s registers and can still be obtained by certain users. The change follows concerns about access to personal information, identity theft, and cybercrime, and sits within ASIC’s wider work on corporate registry settings.
ASIC said the change is intended to reduce the volume of easily accessible personal information while keeping key corporate details available on the public record. The regulator has also said the move does not remove residential address information altogether but introduces an additional layer before it can be accessed. Law enforcement agencies, government agencies, and parties that need address information for regulatory compliance or business purposes will retain access through existing channels. ASIC is engaging with registry intermediaries to explain operational impacts and is monitoring how the change affects users of its registers. For insurers and insurance intermediaries, the removal of address details from standard online extracts may require changes to due diligence processes, particularly in onboarding, KYC checks, fraud investigations, and sanctions screening that previously relied on direct pulls of residential address fields.
The address change forms part of ASIC’s RegistryConnect program, which is reshaping how corporate registry data is collected, held, and accessed. ASIC has indicated that RegistryConnect will include the future linking of director identification numbers to the companies register, changing how individuals are tracked across entities and potentially reducing the need to store other personal identifiers. The program is also expected to introduce additional methods for validating and authenticating users of the registers without relying on the display of private information.
ASIC has said these changes are directed at registry data quality and integrity, as well as the way the public and market participants access information about companies and directors. For insurers, the program is relevant to group structure analysis, beneficial ownership mapping, and the use of registry data in underwriting and claims. In parallel, Treasury is consulting on draft laws to reform Australia’s business registers, with submissions open until Feb. 10. ASIC has said it will continue to work with Treasury on future changes to its registers, which are widely used across financial services, including by life and general insurers and reinsurers.
ASIC has opened a series of consultations in early 2026 on regulatory guides and instruments linked to financial reporting, audit, and licensing relief. On Jan. 12, ASIC sought feedback on proposed updates to Regulatory Guide 43, Financial reports, and audit relief. RG 43, first issued in May 2011, sets out how ASIC exercises its powers to grant relief from financial record‑keeping, financial reporting, and audit requirements under Parts 2M.2, 2M.3, and 2M.4 (other than Division 4) of the Corporations Act 2001.
ASIC has proposed revising RG 43 to reflect legislative reforms since 2011, incorporate relevant material from Regulatory Guide 29 on financial reporting by Australian entities in dual‑listed company arrangements, and simplify the guidance. ASIC also plans to withdraw RG 29 once the updated RG 43 is published. The guide is used by companies, disclosing entities, registered managed investment schemes, corporate collective investment vehicles, and registrable superannuation entities, as well as their directors and auditors, when considering relief from standard reporting and audit requirements. Insurance groups that rely on existing relief – particularly in cross‑border or complex structures – may need to review whether any process or documentation changes are required once the revised guide is in place.
ASIC is consulting on several relief instruments that are scheduled to complete in 2026, with implications for securitisation structures and superannuation transfers that intersect with insurance capital and distribution. On Jan. 20, ASIC proposed remaking ASIC Corporations (Securitisation Special Purpose Vehicles) Instrument 2016/272, which is due to expire on April 1. ASIC intends to remake the instrument for a further five and a half years on substantially the same terms. The instrument exempts certain securitisation entities from holding an Australian financial services (AFS) licence where they hold securitisation products as custodian or trustee or issue such products to AFS licensees, entities exempt from holding an AFS licence or wholesale clients. The relief is used in securitisation structures that are relevant to insurers and reinsurers that invest in or sponsor asset‑backed transactions.
On Jan. 28, ASIC released a proposal to extend ASIC Corporations (Superannuation: Accrued Default Amount and Intra‑Fund Transfers) Instrument 2016/64 until April 1, 2031. The instrument provides relief to trustees of APRA‑regulated superannuation funds from the Corporations Act application form requirements in section 1016A and cooling‑off period requirements in section 1019A where superannuation products are issued during an intra‑fund transfer. ASIC has assessed that this relief is still being used and continues to form part of the current legislative framework. It proposes to remove relief relating to movements of accrued default amounts to MySuper products, which it now regards as redundant, and to make minor technical amendments. Life insurers and group insurers that support superannuation funds will need to consider how an extended instrument, with those changes, applies to their fund transfer and product transition activity.
ASIC has also turned to a further group of instruments covering financial reporting, electronic lodgement, and disclosure mechanics. In a consultation issued on Jan. 30, ASIC proposed remaking three legislative instruments – ASIC Corporations (Rounding in Financial/Directors’ Reports) Instrument 2016/191, ASIC Corporations (Electronic Lodgment of Financial and Sustainability Reports) Instrument 2016/181, and ASIC Corporations (Disregarding Technical Relief) Instrument 2016/73 – before their scheduled sunset date of April 1. ASIC has said it has reviewed these instruments and proposes to remake them without altering their effect.
Separately, ASIC is seeking feedback on a proposal to allow ASIC Corporations (Offer Information Statements) Instrument 2016/76 to lapse on April 1. ASIC notes that offer information statements are rarely used and that it is uncommon for a financial report within an offer information statement to cover a period different from 12 months by more than seven days, which is the flexibility the instrument provides. ASIC also plans to withdraw Regulatory Guide 28, Relief from dual lodgement of financial reports, which is based on a class order that is no longer in force. The four instruments are included in a draft consolidation of instruments referred to in Report 813 on regulatory simplification, with ASIC to provide an update later in 2026.
Alongside these technical proposals, ASIC has outlined the conditions across the financial system that it is monitoring in 2026. ASIC chair Joe Longo said pressures on consumers, markets, and businesses are building amid cost‑of‑living strains for vulnerable Australians, higher debt levels, and ongoing geopolitical tensions. He also highlighted the role of technology in changing both services and risks. “Rapid advances in AI are transforming financial services – and fuelling a surge in AI‑powered cybercrime that is testing the resilience of companies and undermining public trust in AI‑driven decisions,” Longo said.
Longo referred to changes in market structure, including the growth of private markets and increased digitalisation, and to changes in ASX governance requirements that may influence how listed companies operate and how markets function. Longo also noted that diverging global regulatory approaches are adding complexity to compliance and may lead to uneven outcomes for consumers. “Highlighting the key issues for 2026 helps direct attention to where risks are most likely to emerge and underscores where ASIC is focused to safeguard trust, integrity, and confidence in Australia’s financial system,” Longo said. For Australian insurers, ASIC’s current consultations and commentary indicate regulatory focus on use of personal and registry data, cyber, and AI‑related risk, financial reporting practices, and the ongoing operation of relief settings in securitisation, superannuation, and capital markets.
