ASIC puts super industry on notice
ASIC has warned the superannuation industry it is on notice and is adding two new priorities to its focus for 2024.
The regulator said in 2024, its new priorities will include a focus on member services failures and misconduct relating to the erosion of superannuation balances.
New priorities relating to insurance claims handling, compliance with financial hardship obligations and the reportable situation regime have also been added.
In addition, ASIC will be taking action against misconduct relating to used car financing to vulnerable consumers and gatekeepers such as auditors, registered liquidators, and financial services and credit licensees who do not comply with their legal obligations.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court announced at the ASIC Annual Forum in Melbourne the regulator’s continued focus on delivering strong enforcement outcomes.
“Last year, we set ambitious enforcement priorities in part as a response to industry and consumer demand for more transparency on our key areas of focus,” she said.
“The enforcement priorities hold us, as a regulator, accountable, and importantly, they send a clear compliance and deterrence message to the entities we regulate.”
Ms Court said ASIC will be taking matters to court and pursuing higher penalties.
“In delivering against our priorities this year, we took action against some of Australia’s biggest corporations,” she said.
“And we are not deterred from taking challenging cases where legal outcomes are not guaranteed.”
As financial markets continue to become increasingly digitised and automated, the technical and operational risks faced by market participants and market operators have also increased.
ASIC has announced a new priority related to technology and operational resilience for market operators and participants to maintain market integrity.
“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,” Ms Court said.
“Where the law is complex, new or open to interpretation, we are not doing our job if we do not fully explore its reach.
“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.”
