ASIC today released its Enforcement and regulatory update (1 January to 30 June 2024), which sets out recent outcomes in enforcement and regulation.
In the first half of the year, ASIC was successful in 95% of its civil and criminal prosecutions, securing $32.2 million in civil penalties and nine criminal convictions. ASIC also launched 63 new investigations, commenced 12 new civil proceedings and completed 550 surveillances throughout the period.
The report highlights include ASIC’s review of how 10 large home lenders supported their customers in financial hardship and whether superannuation trustees were doing enough to strengthen their members’ retirement outcomes.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘We have seen first-hand the impact on lives and livelihoods when lenders fail to appropriately support customers experiencing financial hardship. In the wake of our review, we put the lending industry on notice.
‘We are actively conducting investigations into suspected breaches of hardship obligations. We will not hesitate to take enforcement action to ensure compliance.’
Last month, ASIC completed its review of 15 banks outside the four major banks on their scam prevention, detection and response activities. The report is part of ASIC’s ongoing focus on anti-scam practices in the broader financial services landscape and follows on from a review of the scam-related activities of the four major Australian banks (Report 761) released in April 2023.
In the coming months, ASIC will announce the results of its surveillance into how superannuation funds are handling death benefits claims. ASIC will also continue its enforcement and intervention activities to address greenwashing.
