ASIC has released its quarterly update for 1 July to 30 September 2021 (REP 704).
During the quarter, ASIC focused on providing industry with regulatory guidance, maintaining market integrity, and targeting enforcement action to deter misconduct in support of our vision for a fair, strong and efficient financial system. All of this was undertaken in the face of particularly difficult circumstances caused by the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Chair Joe Longo said, ‘ASIC continued to pursue appropriate enforcement, regulatory and remediation action to penalise misconduct, deter further breaches and protect Australian investors and consumers. ASIC is also working with domestic and international regulatory agencies on capital markets initiatives to address market fragmentation and support innovation.
‘We continue to work closely with market operators to identify and disrupt actions that threaten the integrity of markets. This includes monitoring a range of platforms for illegal market manipulation activity and exposing common tactics used to lure investors.
‘ASIC is taking a reasonable, common-sense approach to the implementation of law reforms that commenced earlier this month, including design and distribution obligations, restrictions on the unsolicited selling of financial products (hawking), a deferred sales model for add-on insurance products and new requirements around how breaches are reported to ASIC,’ Mr Longo added.