Sarah Court

ASIC secured court orders for civil penalties of $830 million and helped secure more than $580 million in repayments and refunds for consumers and investors during 2025-26, its latest annual report has shown.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said the results reflected the agency’s enforcement and regulatory work.

‘Our focus is on addressing misconduct and delivering outcomes for consumers, investors and the market,’ Ms Court said.

‘This year, our work resulted in significant penalties as well as repayments and refunds for consumers and investors.’

ASIC commenced 260 formal investigations; 32 civil proceedings involving 65 defendants and completed 1,012 surveillances.

As part of its ambitious program of regulatory and enforcement work during the year, ASIC:

• improved outcomes for consumers experiencing financial hardship and low-income customers, with banks committing more than $160 million in refunds and more than 810,000 customers moving to low-fee accounts
• secured combined penalties of $250 million against ANZ for widespread misconduct across its retail banking division, and for institutional and markets misconduct
• removed more than 19,400 investment scam and phishing websites, and associated scam advertisements on social media
• took enforcement and regulatory action in connection with the Shield and First Guardian collapses, with 15 Federal Court proceedings commenced against 30 defendants, and around 4,000 consumers receiving approximately $421 million in repayments following court enforceable undertakings with Macquarie and Netwealth
• pursued tougher executive accountability through proceedings against 11 former executives and directors of The Star Entertainment Group Ltd
• drove industry-wide remediation in the contracts for difference sector and secured a court order for a record $300.2 million penalty against Union Standard International Group Pty Ltd and two former corporate authorised representatives
• acted to protect confidence in critical financial market infrastructure through ASIC’s inquiry into ASX Group’s governance, capability and risk management
• took action against market participants that had inadequate cyber security protection, while calling for urgent uplift in risk management amid proliferation of frontier AI
• set clearer expectations for private credit funds across disclosure, governance, conflicts, valuation, liquidity and credit risk management, and
• progressed regulatory simplification by removing more than 9,000 pages of legacy web content, updating more than 280 form landing pages and simplifying more than 180 pages of regulatory guidance. More than 97% of previously paper-only forms can now be lodged with ASIC by email.

Ms Court said ASIC would continue to build on the agency’s progress and respond to new and emerging risks.

“Our work in protecting consumers, enforcing the law, and ensuring open and transparent financial markets is more important than ever.”

“Our results show that we are delivering robust results in protecting Australians and strengthening confidence in the financial system. We intend to build on that momentum, and push for even greater impact, in the year ahead.”

Downloads

ASIC Annual Report 2025-26

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Fortnum also admitted it failed to have adequate cybersecurity expertise and risk management systems, exposing its authorised representatives and their clients to the risk of cyber-related attacks and cybercrime, that could result in serious harm and loss.

During the relevant period, Fortnum’s network comprised between 81 and 94 financial advice practices, more than 200 authorised advisers, and around 55,000 retail clients. These practices collected and held highly sensitive personal information, including identification documents, tax file numbers and financial account details.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said the outcome reinforced that AFSL holders must properly manage and protect against cybersecurity risk.

‘Today’s outcome is the third obtained by ASIC against a licensee over failures to adequately protect against cybersecurity risk, following previous enforcement actions against RI Advice and FIIG Securities.

‘In this case, Fortnum was aware of the cybersecurity risks facing its business and authorised representatives but failed to implement an adequate cybersecurity policy and have adequate oversight and monitoring arrangements.

‘These failures exposed authorised representatives and their clients to the risk of cyber-related attacks and cybercrime and fell below the standard the public is entitled to expect from an AFSL holder.

‘This outcome reinforces ASIC’s continued focus on licensees getting the fundamentals right. Strong cyber resilience is critical to maintaining trust and confidence in our financial system. We will continue to work with industry to lift standards and take action where businesses fall short,’ the Chair said.

Fortnum admitted that, between 20 April 2021 and 11 May 2023, it:

• failed to implement an adequate cybersecurity policy to manage and mitigate cybersecurity risks across its business and authorised representative network
• failed to implement adequate processes, systems and frameworks to oversee and monitor the cyber resilience of its authorised representatives
• failed to maintain adequate human resources with specialised cybersecurity expertise, and
• failed to maintain adequate cybersecurity risk management systems.

Justice Black noted that the parties had agreed that as a result of its failures Fortnum exposed its authorised representatives and their retail clients to ‘…the risk of cyber-related attacks and cybercrime, the consequences of which could include serious harm and loss.’

His Honour Justice Black also stated, ‘I am satisfied that the proposed pecuniary penalty in the total amount of $1.35 million will provide the necessary sting or burden, given the scale of Fortnum’s business, to achieve the objects of specific deterrence and general deterrence. That penalty properly reflects the matters agreed between the parties, including the fact that the contravening conduct was not deliberate and that Fortnum has cooperated with ASIC, both during the investigation stage and in the conduct of this proceeding.’

The Court also ordered Fortnum to pay $250,000 towards ASIC’s costs.

Previous proceedings filed by ASIC alleging cyber resilience failures include those against RI Advice in May 2022 (22-104MR) and FIIG Securities in February 2026 (26-021MR).

Downloads

Judgment

Background

ASIC commenced proceedings against Fortnum in July 2025 after it was notified by Fortnum of a cyber attack against one of its authorised representatives (25-143MR).

Fortnum has uplifted its cybersecurity framework, including introducing mandatory cyber controls, annual reviews, enhanced training and specialist cyber expertise.

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Sarah Court

ASIC has released the program for its Annual Forum 2026, which will bring together leaders from business, financial services, markets, government, and the community in Sydney on 17 and 18 November.

The Forum’s theme ‘Staying ahead of the next wave’, examines how Australia can safeguard the integrity of its financial system and maintain confidence for consumers and markets in an environment of accelerating and varied global change.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said the forum would bring together a range of perspectives to explore how Australia’s financial system can anticipate and respond to the next wave of change.

‘Economic pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and rapid technological innovation are reshaping our financial system and our markets.’

‘The challenge for all of us – government, business and regulators is to address these factors in a way that is front footed and forward thinking.’

‘ASIC’s Annual Forum is an important opportunity to consider how we navigate these changes together. It is also where ASIC will outline its enforcement priorities for the year ahead, helping ensure Australia’s financial system remains resilient in the face of ongoing disruption.’

Highlights of the 2026 program include:

• A keynote address from The Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP, Treasurer of Australia
• A discussion on the state of the economy bringing together ASIC Chair Sarah Court, RBA Governor Michele Bullock, Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood and Coles CEO Leah Weckert
• A session examining how digital assets, retail participation, AI and the growing interconnection of Australian and global markets are changing the way markets operate, with ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant, ASX CEO Anthony Attia, UBS’s Nick Hughes and Betashares CEO Alex Vynokur
• A virtual keynote and Q&A with Martin Wolf CBE, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times in London
• A discussion on how innovation is reshaping how Australians access financial products and services with ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke, CEO, Revolut Bank Matt Baxby, Financial Conduct Authority Head of Innovation Colin Payne, incoming CEO, Redbelly Network Christian Westerlind Wigstrom and Co-Director of the UTS Human Technology Institute Professor Nicholas Davis
• ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland leading a discussion on the human face of global disruption with Professor Brendan Murphy AC, Chair, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Chandni Gupta, Deputy CEO, Consumer Policy Research Centre and Dr John Coyne, Director, National Security Program, ASPI
• Fireside discussions with Anthropic General Manager of Australia and New Zealand Theo Hourmouzis and Solicitor General Dr Ruth Higgins SC
• A conversation on lifting Australia’s productivity, with ASIC Chair Sarah Court, Treasury Secretary Jenny Wilkinson PSM, NAB CEO Andrew Irvine, and AFR Editor-in-Chief Cosima Marriner.
• The Rest is Politics host Alastair Campbell as the 2026 ASIC Annual Dinner speaker

The Forum will also consider private markets and private credit, trust in professional services firms, the future of financial advice, operational resilience, industry codes, board leadership in a volatile environment, coordination between Australia’s financial regulators, and will announce ASIC’s enforcement priorities for 2027.

The ASIC Annual Forum 2026 will be held on 17 and 18 November at ICC Sydney.

View the full ASIC Annual Forum 2026 program and register.

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Sarah Court

ASIC has published its supervisory priorities for 2026-27 for the banking, superannuation, general insurance, life insurance and financial markets sectors to provide greater transparency of priorities and give industry early visibility on planned activities.

This initiative responds directly to industry feedback and helps regulated entities prepare and allocate resources appropriately. ASIC has engaged with APRA and other regulators in deciding the activities included in the letters. Where there was overlap, those activities were recast or removed to avoid duplication or will be undertaken collaboratively.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said, ‘ASIC is actively working to increase transparency, reduce unnecessary duplication and make regulatory processes easier to navigate while maintaining the quality and integrity of regulatory outcomes.

‘We have a clear mandate from government to support growth and productivity and a responsibility to ensure our actions strengthen the economy and do not unnecessarily slow it.

‘The supervisory letters form part of a broader Council of Financial Regulators workstream, jointly led by ASIC and APRA, to improve how regulators coordinate, collect and share data and respond to the Treasurer’s request for a Better Regulation Roadmap for the financial sector.

‘The letters provide sector-specific visibility of ASIC’s supervisory priorities and areas of focus. This greater level of transparency will help regulated entities plan and allocate resources with confidence.

‘We encourage boards and executives to carefully consider the issues highlighted in the letters so they can plan, allocate resources and focus attention accordingly,’ Ms Court said.

ASIC supervisory priorities for 2026–27

• Banking sector: ASIC will review the use of AI in customer-facing activities and will review lender conduct practices, such as incentives, referrer arrangements, and broker oversight. There will be an ongoing focus on banks getting the basics right and improving outcomes for those in financial difficulty. See ASIC Supervisory letter – Banking
• Superannuation sector: ASIC will continue its multi-year review of superannuation member services and begin new reviews on trustee oversight of advice fee deductions and retirement. See ASIC Supervisory letter – Superannuation
• General insurance sector: ASIC will review the practices of for-profit claims management firms (including those commonly referred to as ‘disaster chasers’) and the potential implications of some firms’ practices for consumers. See ASIC Supervisory letter – General insurance
• Life insurance sector: ASIC will review life insurance practices related to funeral insurance and continue its review into service issues in life insurance. See ASIC Supervisory letter – Life insurance
• Markets sector: ASIC will promote market integrity and responsible innovation through surveillance and public-private initiatives, assisted by industry engagement and intelligence. We will also reduce friction, support capital mobility, facilitate growth and competitiveness in Australia’s capital markets, and strengthen resilient market infrastructure. ASIC will continue to focus on confidence and fair outcomes across both public and private markets. See ASIC Supervisory letter – Markets

Background

Council of Financial Regulators (CFR)

The supervisory letters deliver a key commitment to provide regulated entities with annual, forward-looking visibility of supervisory focus areas under Stream 2 of the Council of Financial Regulators’ (CFR) Better Regulation Roadmap.

The CFR is the coordinating body for Australia’s main financial regulatory agencies, including ASIC, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Treasury.

Following the Economic Reform Roundtable, in September 2025, the Treasurer tasked the CFR Plus regulators to develop a Better Regulation Roadmap for the financial sector. The roadmap comprises a series of coordinated activities that the CFR Plus regulators are undertaking to support the Government’s better regulation agenda.

Regulatory Initiatives Grid

The supervisory letters complement the Regulatory Initiatives Grid (RIG), which sets out the financial services regulatory landscape across Government and regulators. The RIG gives industry visibility of major regulatory and policy reforms that affect the financial services sector.

ASIC and APRA have committed to working with Treasury to enhance the RIG over time, including by providing greater visibility of regulator coordination and thematic supervisory activity.

More information

• CFR Better Regulation Roadmap
• CFR Better Regulation Roadmap – Stream 2 – Package of actions

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Sarah Court

New ASIC data released ysterday highlights the important role reports from the public play in helping ASIC identify misconduct, emerging risks and scams across Australia’s financial system.

Between 1 January and 30 June 2026, ASIC received 9,807 ‘Reports of Misconduct’ with retail investor issues and governance matters continuing to dominate reports received by ASIC, which together account for over four in five of all reports.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said, ‘The data ASIC receives provides critical insights into the trending issues facing consumers and businesses, helping to inform our enforcement priorities. We continue to welcome tip-offs from the public.’

ASIC recorded 170 reports that directly assisted existing surveillance or investigation matters, while 351 reports raised issues that were linked to other reports and were considered together.

Reports from the public have helped ASIC take swift action against emerging pump-and-dump scams, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated using fake celebrity endorsements, causing substantial harm to Australian investors. Scams accounted for nearly one in five reports. Scam disruption is prioritised for assessment because of the harm caused to consumers.

Additionally, the registered agent status of entities has been cancelled where they have been found to breach ASIC’s Registered Agent terms and conditions, following reports from the public.

Other matters progressed for further action include creditor-defeating dispositions in companies being wound up, allegations of whistleblower victimisation and failures to obtain a director identification number.

Common concerns in the reports included unlicensed financial services, governance failures, insolvency concerns and failures to provide company books and records to liquidators.

‘ASIC encourages members of the public to continue reporting suspected misconduct to help identify patterns and trends. Reports from the public remain a vital source of intelligence for ASIC, that help us identify consumer harm and to target resources where they will have the greatest deterrence and consumer benefit,’ Ms Court said.

Reports of misconduct and tip-offs can be made to ASIC online at Reporting misconduct to ASIC.

Background

ASIC has secured a record $830 million in civil penalties orders giving $644 million back to Australians in 2025-26. Many of the actions ASIC has taken have come from reports of misconduct.

Further information about reporting misconduct and the latest reports of misconduct data is available on ASIC’s website: Reports of misconduct data.

ASIC also encourages members of the public to report scams to Scamwatch, a service run by the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC), which has three simple steps to help Australians avoid scams online:

• Stop before you share money or personal information
• Check who you’re really dealing with using contact details you find yourself
• Protect yourself and others by reporting scams to your bank, cyber.gov.au and Scamwatch.

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Sarah Court

ASIC strengthened consumer protection in 2025-26, delivering 150 administrative enforcement outcomes targeting misconduct across Australia’s financial, credit and corporate sectors.

Demonstrating the critical role administrative enforcement tools play in disrupting rogue operators and protecting consumers, investors and small businesses, between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026, ASIC:

• removed or restricted 87 individuals and businesses from providing financial services
• removed or restricted 27 individuals and businesses from providing credit services
• disqualified 36 individuals from managing corporations

Overall, ASIC’s administrative enforcement activity remained strong in 2025–26, with financial services removals and restrictions reaching the highest level in the past five-years and director disqualifications rising sharply from the 2024-25 financial year.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said Australian financial services licence cancellations and director disqualifications were among ASIC’s most efficient enforcement tools.

‘These administrative powers are critical levers that allow ASIC to act quickly and decisively to stop misconduct, protect consumers, investors and small businesses, and efficiently remove unsuitable operators from the market.

‘They can often be deployed more swiftly than or ahead of court action to help prevent further harm, drive behavioural change and strengthen trust and confidence in Australia’s financial and corporate markets.

‘Every banning order, licence cancellation and director disqualification removes a pathway for rogue operators to continue earning a living from misconduct. By removing high-risk participants from the market, we are disrupting misconduct at its source and making it harder for those who disregard the law to continue operating.’

ASIC’s latest data shows that 61% of financial services outcomes and 89% of credit-related outcomes resulted in permanent banning orders or licence cancellations with:

• 77 permanent bannings and cancellations from credit and financial services (31 individuals and 46 organisations)
• 6 banned for 10 years from credit and financial services
• 31 banned for less than 10 years
• 18 of the 36 director disqualifications were for the maximum period of five years available under the Corporations Act.

Some of ASIC’s most significant enforcement outcomes in 2025-26 included:

• Permanent ban – Abdullah Popal: ASIC permanently banned Mr Popal from providing financial services and engaging in credit activities following fraud convictions involving the dishonest transfer of almost $90,000 from former clients.
• Permanent ban – Barry King: ASIC permanently banned former financial adviser after finding he misappropriated client funds and provided false documents.
• Maximum director disqualification – Kylie Campbell: ASIC disqualified the former Victorian property development director from managing corporations for the maximum period of five years following the failure of companies that left substantial debts and losses to creditors.
• Shield and First Guardian Master Funds: ASIC has banned 15 advisers linked to the Shield Master Fund or the First Guardian Master Fund in the last financial year and taken further action against licensees, a director of a licensee and a responsible manager.

‘ASIC will continue to take decisive action against individuals and businesses that fail to meet their legal obligations,’ the Chair said.

‘Administrative enforcement outcomes are a powerful way to protect consumers and investors, deter misconduct and maintain confidence in Australia’s financial, credit and corporate markets.

‘If you misuse a position of trust, fail to meet your obligations or engage in misconduct, ASIC can and will act to remove you from the market.’

Background

¹Source: ASIC Annual Reports
²The categories are not mutually exclusive, and some individuals/businesses may appear in more than one category where multiple administrative actions have been taken.

Banning orders prohibit individuals from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities and are used where ASIC identifies serious misconduct or conduct demonstrating a person is not fit to participate in the industry.

Licence cancellations remove a business’s legal authority to provide financial services or credit activities and are used where an entity has failed to meet its obligations or no longer meets the standards required of a licensee.

Director disqualifications prevent individuals from managing corporations for up to five years and are commonly used where ASIC identifies repeated company failures, misconduct affecting creditors or employees, or conduct showing a person is unfit to manage a company. This provision is a key regulatory tool to deter director misconduct and allows for a timely and efficient enforcement outcome when compared to similar criminal and civil remedies. Any person who continues to be involved in the management of a company while disqualified commits an offence which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

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Sarah Court

ASIC has delivered one of its strongest enforcement periods on record, securing major penalties and driving tens of millions in payments back to Australians in the first half of 2026.

From January to June 2026, ASIC secured court orders totalling $480 million^# in civil penalties against major banks, super trustees, market participants and financial services firms, including Union Standard, HSBC, Westpac, Macquarie Securities, and Mercer Super.

Together with the $350 million ordered in the first half, ASIC’s civil penalties orders now total $830 million for the 2025-2026 financial year.

In connection with ASIC’s work, $644 million^* is being paid back to Australians, including more than $61 million announced in the first half of 2026, on top of the $583 million announced between June and December 2025.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said, ‘Our enforcement work is focused on misconduct that causes real harm and we are delivering results, forcing change, strengthening accountability, and returning money to consumers and investors.

‘We are pursuing cases that expose serious failures in systems, governance and conduct, from scams and hardship failures to market infrastructure, superannuation, private credit, financial reporting, and digital assets.’

ASIC’s criminal enforcement program also continues to deliver, with recent court outcomes and investigations achieving significant jail sentences holding those who broke Australia’s financial services laws to account.

In May, former Sydney fund manager Rodney Forrest was resentenced by the Full Federal Court to five years and three months jail imprisonment for a $3 million insider trading scheme involving Platinum Asset Management shares. Former financial advisor Anthony Torre was sentenced in January to six years in prison for fraud involving the misappropriation of superannuation funds. Remedy Housing officials Brent Smith, Mahmoud Khodr, and Fue Mano were sentenced to lengthy prison in March for dishonesty offences.

Overall, there has been an uplift in ASIC’s criminal convictions and custodial sentences with 25 criminal convictions, of these 21 were custodial sentences, including 11 individuals sentenced to imprisonment.

ASIC’s enforcement and regulatory figures from July 2025 to June 2026 reveals:

• $830 million in civil penalties imposed by courts
• $643.5 million to be delivered back to tens of thousands of customers and investors as part of remediation, refunds, and payments in connection with ASIC’s work
• ASIC launched more than 250 investigations
• 25 criminal convictions comprised of 21 custodial sentences (including 11 individuals sentenced to imprisonment) and four were non-custodial sentences
• 32 new civil proceedings were filed, 18 new criminal prosecutions commenced, and 25 criminal convictions were recorded against individuals
• $12 million in infringement notices and $137,315 in criminal fines.

Some of the major civil penalties follow ASIC’s successful enforcement action against:

• Union Standard International Group was ordered to pay a record $300 million penalty for serious contracts for difference (CFD) misconduct and failures affecting retail investors
• HSBC Bank Australia admitted scam protection failures, with ASIC securing a $35 million penalty. Macquarie Securities was ordered to pay a $35 million penalty for systemic failures that led to the misreporting of millions of short sales and inaccurate market data.
• Westpac was ordered to pay a $26 million penalty for widespread failures in responding to customer hardship requests
• Walker Stores (Snaffle) was ordered to pay a $33.5 million penalty for unlawful credit practices that overcharged consumers almost $20 million in excess interest
• Mercer Super was ordered to pay $10.3 million in penalties for systemic reporting failures, including failing to report significant breaches to ASIC

In connection with its work, ASIC also:

• ASIC secured nearly $40 million in refunds to CFD investors
• Following ASIC’s investigation, HSBC has established a large-scale remediation program that, to date, has paid around $21.5 million in compensation, with further payments to come before the end of July 2026. HSBC has also recovered $6.5 million and returned those funds to customers.

‘ASIC has delivered record penalties and strong criminal outcomes, but enforcement is not just about punishment. It is about detecting misconduct sooner, preventing harm where we can, and securing remediation for those affected,’ the Chair said.

‘Our focus is on protecting investors, returning money where possible, and holding lawbreakers to account. Where we see serious harm or risks to market integrity, we will act quickly and use the full range of regulatory and enforcement tools available to us.’

Background

^#The figure of $480 million reflects civil penalties ordered by courts between 1 Jan 2026 and 30 June 2026. It does not include proposed or agreed civil penalties that remain subject to court approval in 2026.

^*The figure of $644 million reflects announcements in the reporting period in connection with ASIC’s work. Payments may occur before or after the reporting period and totals may be updated as programs progress.

ASIC Media Release outlining penalties secured:

• 26-136MR ASIC secures $10.3 million in penalties against Mercer Super for systemic reporting failures
• 26-126MR $35 million penalty sought as HSBC admits to scam protection failures, and implements compensation plan
• 26-117MR Federal Court orders record $300 million penalties in ASIC’s case over ‘egregious’ Union Standard and CFD operator misconduct
• 26-107MR Federal Court orders Westpac to pay $26 million penalty for hardship failures
• 26-099MR Federal Court orders $33.5 million penalty against Snaffle operator for inflating prices and overcharging on credit contracts
• 26-084MR Federal Court orders Money3 to pay $1.55 million penalty for responsible lending breaches
• 26-097MR ASIC appeals $7 million penalty in Cigno Australia, BSF Solutions, and directors’ case
• 26-068MR Electro Optic Systems Holdings ordered to pay $4 million penalty for continuous disclosure breaches
• 26-055MR Binance Australia Derivatives ordered to pay $10 million penalty for onboarding failures causing millions in client trading losses
• 26-050MR Supreme Court orders Macquarie Securities to pay $35 million penalty in short sale misreporting case

ASIC Media Releases outlining remediation back to customers

• 26-004MR ASIC secures nearly $40 million in refunds to investors and drives change after CFD sector falls short
• 26-127MR Federal Court orders $35 million penalty against HSBC for scam protection failures

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Sarah Court

ASIC Chair Joe Longo has welcomed the appointment of Sarah Court as the agency’s incoming Chair.

Mr Longo said Ms Court would bring deep regulatory expertise to the role from her career of public service.

‘Sarah is an exceptional regulator with a strong record in enforcement that demonstrates her integrity and impact,’ Mr Longo said.

‘Her work as ASIC’s Deputy Chair has been instrumental to the success of the agency’s structural transformation that has strengthened our enforcement posture and work, leading to better outcomes for consumers and a fairer financial system.

‘ASIC will be in very capable hands under her leadership.

‘Over the coming months, I will support Sarah, the Commission and all our staff to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.’

Sarah Court commences as ASIC Chair on 1 June 2026.

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Sarah Court

Private credit practices, financial reporting misconduct, insurance complaints and claims handling, and misleading pricing are among a range of new enforcement priorities ASIC has unveiled for 2026.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said ASIC’s 2026 enforcement priorities have been designed to protect consumers from financial harm and uphold the integrity of Australia’s financial markets.

‘We are continuing to deliver strong, visible and active enforcement outcomes.

‘We’re doing more investigations, taking more matters to court and securing record penalties.

‘In the last 12 months, we’ve doubled the number of new investigations and nearly doubled the number of new matters filed in court.

‘We’ve also worked hard to increase our criminal prosecutions, and seen lengthy sentences imposed for financial fraud offences,’ the Deputy Chair said.

In 2026, ASIC’s new enforcement priorities are:

• Misleading pricing practices impacting cost of living for Australians
• Poor private credit practices
• Financial reporting misconduct including failure to lodge financial reports
• Claims and complaint handling failures by insurers
• Continuing our work to hold those responsible to account for the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds

Continuing enforcement priorities are:

• Strengthening investigation and prosecution of insider trading conduct
• Misconduct exploiting consumers facing financial difficulty including predatory credit practices
• Unlawful practices seeking to evade small business creditors
• Holding super trustees to account for member services failures
• Auditor misconduct

‘Our 2026 enforcement priorities reflect emerging risks like those in private credit, as well as the challenges Australians face while contending with higher living costs.

‘ASIC will zero in on misleading pricing practices in the financial services sector, particularly those that make everyday costs harder for Australians.

‘In line with our increased surveillance across private credit, we won’t hesitate to take enforcement action to stamp out misconduct in the sector so we can support confident and informed participation, investor protection and market integrity.

‘Reliable financial information remains more important than ever, particularly as entities with unlisted assets, such as super funds and private credit funds, play a bigger role in the economy. In 2026, we will step up enforcement action against financial reporting misconduct.

Alongside these priorities, more than 40 people are continuing to investigate the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds and, as one of ASIC’s largest and most complex cases ever, it has been elevated to a new, dedicated priority.

‘We have been focused on returning available money to investors and the next stage is holding those responsible to account for the Shield and First Guardian collapses’, the Deputy Chair said.

Key enforcement outcomes over the past year include:

• Proposing $240 million in combined penalties against ANZ which, if imposed by the court, would be the largest penalties ASIC has ever levelled against a single entity.
• Filing proceedings against Macquarie and accepting a court enforceable undertaking to repay $320 million to affected Shield Master Fund investors.
• Securing a 14-year prison sentence for West Australian fraudster Chris Marco; the highest sentence imposed by an Australian court in relation to an ASIC criminal investigation.

ASIC’s enforcement priorities for 2026 are designed to send a clear and effective signal to the market about where ASIC will focus its resources and expertise.

In addition to ASIC’s 2026 enforcement priorities, ASIC’s enduring priorities remain, including protecting First Nations and vulnerable consumers, upholding market integrity, acting against systemic failures, and ensuring a fair, strong, and efficient financial system for all Australians.

Background

ASIC’s goal is to help all Australians through promoting market integrity and consumer protection in the Australian financial system.

We take decisive and high-profile enforcement action to protect consumers, address misconduct, punish wrongdoers, and, importantly, reduce the risk of misconduct in the markets and sectors we regulate.

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5Online scammers are squarely in ASIC’s cross hairs with new data revealing more than 10,000 investment scam websites and online advertisements have been shut down by the agency^[1].

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