Lydia Carstensen

Regulators have shifted their priorities to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. This means significant reforms and legislative change to general insurance may be delayed. We outline what’s changed and when you need to be ready for reform.

Licence applications are delayed

APRA will not issue any new insurance or banking licences for at least 6 months. We also expect there will be a delay to the application process for Australian financial services licences because ASIC has a reduced workforce operating remotely.

New legislation and policy work

Consultation papers for ASIC regulatory guides relating to key Royal Commission reforms are likely to be delayed until at least October 2020. Many of these changes were originally to start on 1 July 2020.

ASIC has changed its priorities

Before COVID-19, ASIC was moving forward on a range of policy and legislative reforms that arose out of the Royal Commission.

ASIC will now prioritise regulatory efforts where:

• There is the risk of significant consumer harm;
• There are serious breaches of the law;
• There are risks to market integrity; or
• The matter is time critical.

This means you have more time to plan for key regulatory reforms. We’ve identified which changes apply now and which ones are likely to be delayed. We’ll update this blog as more information comes to hand.

Initiatives likely to be delayed

We know many businesses have increased capacity at the moment. This gives you time to tackle some of these changes head on so you’re prepared when ASIC and Parliament progress them.

By Charmian Holmes and Lydia Carstensen

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