The reportable situations regime is a key component of the financial services and credit regulatory frameworks. ASIC expects all licensees, regardless of size, to have robust systems and processes in place to ensure timely detection and reporting of non-compliance.

These expectations were highlighted in recent legal proceedings filed by ASIC against United Super Pty Ltd (United Super), the trustee of Cbus, for systemic claims handling failures and for failing to lodge a reportable situation within the required 30 days (24-251MR).

ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke said compliance with the reportable situations regime, which requires licensees to promptly identify, fix and report their own problems, can help lift industry standards and in turn improve consumer outcomes. At the same time, the reports submitted help ASIC to detect emerging issues and non-compliant behaviour early and take action where appropriate.

‘We have undertaken extensive work to strengthen the operation of the reportable situations regime since the introduction of the October 2021 reforms, and ensuring that the objectives of the regime are met remains a priority area of work for us in 2024-25,’ Commissioner O’Rourke said.

‘As part of this, we will consult with stakeholders on options for future granular reporting to provide even deeper insights, ahead of our fourth annual publication of reportable situations data in Q3 2025.

‘In addition, we will do further work next year to consider how best to ensure ASIC receives the reports that have the most intelligence value to us, while managing the burden on industry from reporting. We will also undertake a range of work on a sector-by-sector basis to monitor and uplift compliance with the regime, and consider enforcement action where necessary.’

As part of its efforts to further uplift compliance with the regime, ASIC has today published insights, key questions and a set of best practice examples for licensees to reflect on and inform changes to better meet their obligations under the regime.

‘These insights are informed by a recent review of licensees who had not lodged a reportable situation, or who had lodged very few,’ Ms O’Rourke said.

The review found areas for improvement in how licensees identified incidents and breaches, and in their broader incident management and compliance and oversight arrangements. 

‘We have set out a range of prompts alongside our findings to help not just the review sample, but all licensees to strengthen their practices in critical areas,’ she said.

‘We call on licensees to assess their own arrangements against the findings and prioritise where improvements may be required.’

Background

ASIC is obliged to report annually on information that is provided under the reportable situations regime, which it did on 31 October 2024, for the third year.

The reports published since the commencement of the regime have not named licensees nor refer to the nature or number of reports lodged by specific licensees. ASIC will be consulting with stakeholders in 2025 about potential changes to this approach for future publications.

Since reforms to the reportable situations regime were introduced in 2021:

• ASIC updated Regulatory Guide 78 Breach reporting by AFS licensees and credit licensees (RG 78) in April 2023 to improve the operation of the regime, including for example, clarifying when licensees can group reports.
• ASIC announced relief in October 2023 (extended in September 2024) to manage the reporting burden on licensees. Together with updated guidance, the relief contributed to a 27% reduction in year-on-year reporting volumes.
• ASIC introduced a machine-to-machine interface for high-volume reporters to lodge their reports more efficiently with ASIC.

Related links

• Reportable situations: Findings of ASIC’s review and how licensees can improve compliance with the regime – 4 December 2024
• ASIC releases third publication on insights from the reportable situations regime – 31 October 2024