Australia’s corporate regulator has reported a sharp lift in investigations and enforcement as it set out its priorities for the year ahead in a new corporate plan.
ASIC said it commenced 252 formal investigations and 38 new civil proceedings in 2024–25, up from 168 investigations and 32 civil cases the previous year. That equates to a 50% rise in investigations and nearly 20% growth in civil actions.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo linked the uplift to an overhaul of leadership, including new Commissioners, a new CEO and a refreshed executive team. ‘That transformation is key to ensuring ASIC can continue to serve the Australian community,’ Mr Longo said.
‘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.
‘Our plan highlights more than a dozen new regulatory initiatives from reviews of offset accounts and debt collection, to whistleblower protections and SMSF establishment advice.
‘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 to ensure Australia has stable, secure and resilient market infrastructure.
‘This plan demonstrates our commitment to being a modern, confident and ambitious regulator.’
Mr Longo said the plan formalised ASIC’s push to simplify regulation. ‘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,’ Mr Longo 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 new performance measures designed to sharpen how the regulator assesses and explains its impact. ‘This will help our stakeholders better understand ASIC’s impact,’ Mr Longo said.
