AFS licensees should maintain evidence that demonstrates how compliance obligations are governed, monitored, reported, remediated and overseen in practice. ASIC’s focus extends beyond policies and procedures to the effectiveness of compliance arrangements. Evidence should support decision-making, accountability, and oversight, and demonstrate how compliance risks are identified and managed.
Expanded Answer
Compliance evidence is the information and records that allow a licensee to demonstrate the operation of its compliance framework. The purpose of compliance evidence is not simply to prove that an activity occurred, but to show how compliance obligations are monitored, how decisions are made, how issues are addressed and how governance oversight is exercised.
The specific evidence required will depend on the licensee’s business model, authorisations, risk profile and compliance obligations. However, most AFS licensees should maintain records that support governance, monitoring, reporting, incident management, remediation and risk management activities.
Examples of compliance evidence include:
- Governance meeting papers, minutes and decision records.
- Compliance monitoring results and review outcomes.
- Incident, breach and complaint records.
- Remediation plans, action tracking and closure evidence.
- Risk assessments and control testing results.
- Training records and competency evidence.
- Compliance reports provided to responsible managers or boards.
The objective is not document retention for its own sake. The objective is maintaining evidence that demonstrates operational effectiveness, accountability and oversight. Evidence should be accessible, reliable and capable of supporting regulatory reviews, audits and internal governance activities.
Why it matters
ASIC may request evidence showing how compliance obligations are managed in practice. Organisations that cannot readily produce governance records, monitoring outcomes or remediation evidence may struggle to demonstrate effective compliance arrangements. Strong evidence management improves transparency, accountability and regulatory readiness.
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Practical guidance
- Review whether compliance records demonstrate decisions, actions, outcomes and oversight rather than simply documenting activities.
- Assess whether governance, monitoring and remediation evidence can be produced quickly when requested.
- Test whether compliance evidence supports a clear audit trail from issue identification through to resolution.
Further reading
What does a defensible compliance framework look like for AFSL and credit licensees?