ASIC’s latest enforcement trends focus on systemic misconduct, governance failures, and poor compliance systems rather than isolated breaches. The regulator is increasingly using data-led surveillance to identify patterns of harm, with a strong emphasis on accountability, remediation, and whether AFS licensees can demonstrate effective oversight and control.
Expanded Answer
ASIC’s enforcement activity is shifting toward identifying and acting on systemic issues across firms. This includes failures in the quality of advice, misleading conduct, poor disclosure, and ineffective breach reporting. ASIC is less focused on technical breaches in isolation and more concerned with whether underlying governance, supervision and compliance frameworks are functioning effectively.
In practice, ASIC uses data analytics and cross-licensee comparisons to detect trends, such as repeated client harm, inconsistent reporting, and patterns in complaints and remediation. Investigations are more likely where firms fail to escalate issues, delay remediation, or cannot clearly explain how risks are identified and managed. There is also increasing focus on individual accountability, including responsible managers and senior leaders.
Risk increases where firms rely on manual processes, fragmented systems, or unclear ownership of compliance obligations. ASIC is signalling that poor systems and weak governance will be treated as root causes of misconduct. For further context, see Early enforcement signals advisers can’t ignore and ASIC enforcement trends: what you need to know for 2025.
Why it matters
ASIC’s approach means firms can be investigated based on patterns and indicators, not just complaints or individual breaches. Weak systems, delayed reporting, or inconsistent data can trigger scrutiny even before clear misconduct is identified.
Practical guidance
- Strengthen data quality and monitoring to identify trends in advice, complaints and breaches.
- Clarify accountability for compliance, supervision and escalation across the business.
- Test whether governance frameworks can detect and respond to systemic issues early.
Further reading