ASIC crackdown underway
ASIC will "shift away from an over-reliance on disclosure to protect consumers" ASIC Chair, James Shipton told the Financial Services Council Summit in Sydney yesterday."Instead, we will look to use targeted powers like the product intervention power more often," he said."High deterrence" enforcement actions are a priority in ASIC's new corporate plan, also published yesterday.ASIC "is focused on effective action, particularly cases that have a high deterrence value and those responding to egregious misconduct," Shipton said."We are already enhancing our enforcement focus. From February 2018 - when I joined - to June of this year, there has been a 21 per cent increase in the number of ASIC enforcement investigations and a 74 per cent increase in enforcement investigations involving the big six (or their officers or subsidiaries)."Inevitably, ASIC is "prioritising the recommendations and referrals from the Royal Commission," Shipton said.