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Additional Estimates 2023/2024 Opening Statement, 15 February 2024

Opening statement by ASIC Chair Joe Longo at the Additional Estimates 2023/2024, 15 February 2024.

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I am pleased to appear before the Committee once more today. I am joined by Deputy Chair Sarah Court and Commissioner Kate O’Rourke. I am also pleased to welcome today our newest Commissioners Alan Kirkland and Simone Constant, who commenced at ASIC in November last year.

Also present today are Chief Executive Officer Warren Day, our General Counsel Chris Savundra and Executive Director of Regulation and Supervision, Greg Yanco.

I look forward to working with the new ASIC Commission and the leadership team under our renewed organisational structure as we continue to deliver ASIC’s important work.

We will soon be issuing our Enforcement and Regulatory update for the last quarter. I’ll leave you with a few observations that show ASIC’s enforcement record continues to remain strong across our broad remit:

  • In the last quarter alone we commenced over 80 investigations, charged 19 individuals with criminal offences and secured 9 criminal convictions.
  • Our civil enforcement work resulted in almost $60 million in penalties awarded by the courts.
  • We issued two infringement notices in relation to our concerns about greenwashing.
  • In November, we launched our first civil penalty action under the internal dispute resolution (IDR) regime, alleging Telstra Super Pty Ltd failed to comply with the relevant requirements.
  • And just last Friday saw one Australia’s first court decisions on the application of the financial services law to crypto. The Federal Court agreed with ASIC’s argument that that fintech company Block Earner was required to have a financial licence in offering its crypto-backed fixed yield product.

We’re pleased to answer the Committee’s questions today.

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