The paper examined the health and future of Australia’s markets, including the growth in private markets, the decline in public listings, and the growing significance of superannuation funds.

ASIC continues to meet with domestic and international stakeholders and has received almost 90 submissions. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive and reflect the views of industry bodies, market operators, superannuation trustees, fund managers and other stakeholders across the finance sector.

ASIC Chair Joe Longo said the agency was closely considering the submissions to inform its next steps.

‘ASIC has a mandate to drive financial system performance and improve investor confidence.

‘ASIC wants both public and private markets to thrive and flourish – together, they drive more investment, more opportunities for companies to grow, and more jobs for Australians.

‘I was encouraged by the breadth and richness of the responses we received, which recognised this is a timely discussion that will shape the future of Australia’s capital markets. We heard our markets are strong but changing, and that public and private markets must complement, not cannibalise each other.’

ASIC has distilled the feedback into themes, which are shaping further work and thinking, including learning from international experience. These include:

• Structural and cyclical factors are shaping both public and private markets
• Public market adjustments would improve and enhance their attractiveness
• Private markets are here to stay and grow, there is an acknowledgement of the need for any regulatory guidance to be measured, working closely with industry and aligning to international standards
• Private credit is good for the economy and investors, if done well. There may be work to do to ensure it is sustainably done well
• Superannuation is a mature investment force in Australia and a significant and structural influence in markets and investment
• More to do on data collection and transparency of private markets including in dimensioning the market itself and learning from international practices.

‘I thank everyone for their feedback; ASIC is listening. We have noted a range of insights and actionable ideas, including streamlining IPOs and disclosure requirements. We will carefully consider the requests for urgency to improve the attractiveness of Australia’s public markets, as well as the caution expressed in submissions to move carefully in adjusting any settings in private markets.

‘We look forward to announcing the adoption of some of the proposed actionable ideas and will share our roadmaps for public and private markets in Q3 and Q4, respectively, this year. This work will be supported by further feedback from stakeholders, our ongoing surveillances, and views from market experts in the coming months,’ Mr Longo said.

Background

On 26 February 2025, ASIC released a discussion paper which explored the changing dynamics in capital markets in Australia and abroad, including declining listings on public markets, the rapid growth in investment capital allocated to private markets and the growing significance of superannuation funds in markets.

To further support its markets work, ASIC has commissioned the following expert insight papers on:

• the future state of Australia’s capital markets;
• the private credit environment; and
• international approaches to data and transparency in private markets.

ASIC’s work will also be informed by current surveillance activity of retail and wholesale providers of private credit and private market managed investment schemes.

The discussion paper followed ASIC’s report, Equity market cleanliness snapshot report (REP 786), released in July 2024. The market cleanliness report showed Australia’s listed equity markets have continued to operate with a high level of integrity and remain consistently among the cleanest in the world. The report provided a broader context for the findings in Report 787 Review of Australian equity market cleanliness: 1 November 2018 to 30 April 2024 (REP 787).

The post The future of Australia’s public and private markets – ASIC shares industry feedback and next steps appeared first on AdviserVoice.