ASIC under fire at Royal Commission
(23 November 2018 – Australia) The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has come under fire at the royal commission for being too light-handed with the companies it regulates and too close to the big four banks.
The corporate regulator was criticised for taking too long to investigate misconduct and failing to take the banks on in court, with it revealed that ASIC had only taken action against an entity for breaching an enforceable undertaking twice in the last 10 years.
"I want to make it crystal clear we will be undertaking more court-based actions," ASIC chairman James Shipton told the commission on Friday.
"We will be more adventurous in pushing points of law. We will be taking more risks, because we now have – through my direct engagement with the government – more funding to do exactly that."
Mr Shipton also pledged to sue more individual bankers and consider criminal actions, and called for the Banking Executive Accountability Regime to be extended so ASIC could jointly enforce it alongside the prudential regulator.
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