ASIC is warning market participants that strong, targeted enforcement action will continue in the coming months as part of its focus on protecting consumers from harm and upholding market integrity.
The warning comes after ASIC’s enforcement and regulatory update highlighted over $109.1 million in civil penalties for the half year to 30 June 2023, along with a number of significant outcomes aimed at maintaining market integrity, including the cancellation of the AFS licence used by Binance Australia Derivatives, insider trading charges and the sentencing of an individual for market manipulation.
ASIC also banned an individual engaging in naked short selling, with ASIC continuing to monitor compliance with the short selling regime.
During the quarter ASIC released an update on its recent greenwashing interventions and called on financial institutions to improve their approaches to handling scams.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘Promoting market integrity and addressing misconduct that places consumers and investors at risk are enduring priorities for ASIC. Our commitment to insider trading and market manipulation deterrence continues and we expect further action for related misconduct in the coming months.’
ASIC won the Australian Public Service Data Analytics and Visualisation Award for 2023 for the development of its insider trading surveillance and detection capability. We have now embedded core functionality from Project Artemis into our surveillance processes to more efficiently identify suspicious trading by connected parties proximate to market sensitive announcements. This facilitates more efficient investigation of insider trading matters.
Key enforcement outcomes
Between 1 January 2023 and 30 June 2023:
| Summary of enforcement outcomes | Total |
|---|---|
| Criminal charges laid against individuals prosecuted | 125 |
| Civil penalties imposed by the courts | $109.1 million |
| Investigations commenced | 70 |
| Investigations ongoing | 144 |
| Individuals disqualified or removed from directing companies | 19 |
| Individuals banned or suspended from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities | 46 |