The financial services sector can expect a more interventionist approach from corporate regulators at home and abroad, as bad behaviour continues to confound and dismay politicians and customers. That was the theme of the keynote address to yesterday's Australian Regulatory Summit 2017 by Peter Kell, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission deputy chairman.  Kell warned that changes that have either been introduced or are scheduled to take effect would allow ASIC "to target wrongdoing more effectively" with a new "toolkit". His presentation covered plenty of territory, including the need to have a more proactive stance on contentious areas such as responsible lending, mortgage broking, funeral insurance, small business lending and dispute resolution. Remuneration incentives can create the wrong results if bank customers do not understand disclosures, he suggested. ASIC needed to have flexible powers to deal with a range of issues, including remuneration, Kell said, as he contended that the regulator's current powers to deal with poor consumer outcomes only after the fact - and with "the only available remedy" criminal prosecution - limited the options for ASIC in dealing with a range of misconduct. Nevertheless, Kell found a positive note to conclude: "There are real reasons for optimism - through a combination of good luck and good management, Australia has done a lot of work to regulate the fast pace of change in our financial system," he said.