Australian Securities & Investments Commission - Wikipedia

Corporate regulation agency of the Australian Government Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Commission overview
Formed	1 July 1998 (1998-07-01)
Preceding agencies	National Companies and Securities Commission Corporate Affairs offices in the states and territories
Dissolved	Australian Securities Commission
Jurisdiction	Australia
Headquarters	Sydney, New South Wales
Employees	1,656 (2018–19)[1]
Minister responsible	Jim Chalmers, Treasurer
Commission executive	Joseph Longo, Chair
Parent department	Treasury
Website	asic.gov.au

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors.[2] ASIC, which reports to the treasurer, was established on 1 July 1998 following recommendations from the Wallis Inquiry.

Areas of responsibility

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ASIC's authority and scope are determined by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001.

ASIC's areas of responsibility include:

• corporate governance
• financial services
• securities and derivatives
• insurance
• consumer protection
• financial literacy

ASIC's consumer website www.moneysmart.gov.au was launched on 15 March 2011. MoneySmart replaced ASIC's two previous consumer websites, FIDO and Understanding Money. MoneySmart aims to help people make good financial decisions by providing free, independent and unbiased information, tools and resources.

ASIC is responsible for the administering the following legislation:[3]

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act)
• Business Names Registration Act 2011
• Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act)
• Insurance Contracts Act 1984
• National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (National Credit Act)

Additionally, ASIC is also responsible for administering parts of the following legislation:[3]

• Banking Act 1959
• Life Insurance Act 1995
• Medical Indemnity (Prudential Supervision and Product Standards) Act 2003
• Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997
• Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993
• Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act).

Registers

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ASIC maintains Australia's company and business name registers, which can be searched online. The types of organisations that can be searched online include companies, registered bodies, foreign companies, associations, managed investment schemes and non-registered entities.[4] The information that is available includes current and/or historical information about the organisation, including past addresses, previous directors, and former names, as well as the organisation's unique identification number (ABN, ACN, ARBN, ARSN), type of company or organisation (e.g., proprietary company, limited by shares), date it was registered, the next review date, location of registered office (town or suburb only), and any professional licences or registrations (e.g. an Australian financial services licence or credit licence).

History

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ASIC was originally formed as the Australian Securities Commission (ASC), established on 1 January 1991 by the (then) ASC Act 1989. The purpose of ASC was to unify corporate regulators around Australia by replacing the National Companies and Securities Commission and the Corporate Affairs offices of the states and territories.

The corporate regulator became the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on 1 July 1998, when it also became responsible for consumer protection in superannuation, insurance and deposit taking. It has since gained further responsibilities: in 2002 for credit, the Australian Stock Exchange in 2009, and Chi-X in 2011.

Criticisms

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This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: June 2019 (June 2019)

In 2012, ASIC called for powers to use data which had been intercepted by other intelligence agencies.[5]

In recent times ASIC has become the subject of criticism by consumers, consumer advocates and public officials over its inaction and inefficiencies in protecting consumers from large financial institutions.[6][7][8][9]

In 2015–2016 ASIC was subject to a class action claim of negligence by persons affected by the Storm Financial collapse for an alleged failure to take action, amounting to malfeasance. However, Justice Gleeson of the Federal Court of Australia struck out the statement of claim of the plaintiffs as being unarguable.[10][11]

ASIC has not acted against the Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia) (FOS) despite the organisation being exposed as having generated misleading file notes and then attempting to offer them in the discovery phase in a Victorian Supreme Court case. FOS were caught out and exposed by a consumer and ASIC has not acted against FOS.[12]

ASIC did commence proceedings against the largest four banks in Australia in 2016 for rigging of Australian benchmark interest rates. However criticism has been leveled against the regulator for failing to take action for over five years. Questions remain about how this will affect consumer civil causes of action against banks involved, given that the statute of limitations tends to be six years in Australia.

In 2016, ASIC became the subject of heavy criticism in the debate concerning the creation of a Royal Commission into banking and financial services.[13]

See also

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ASIC

• ASIC v Kobelt
• ASIC v Rich
• Australian Registered Scheme Number

Australian finance:

• Australian Accounting Standards Board
• Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
• Australian Takeovers Panel
• Financial Ombudsman Service (Australia)
• Reserve Bank of Australia

General:

• Economy of Australia
• Securities commission
• List of financial supervisory authorities by country
• List of company registers

References

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1. ^ Annual Report 2017–2018 (PDF), Australian Securities and Investments Commission, 2018, p. 168
2. ^ "Overview of ASIC". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
3. ^ a b "Laws we administer". ASIC. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
4. ^ ASIC Companies and organisations
5. ^ David Ramli (27 September 2012). "ASIC calls for more phone-tapping powers". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
6. ^ "Submissions". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
7. ^ "The impairment of customer loans". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
8. ^ "Final Report". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
9. ^ "Our banks are beyond the law". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
10. ^ "Court throws out ASIC Storm claim". financialobserver.com.au. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
11. ^ Lock v Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2016] FCA 31 (4 February 2016), Federal Court.
12. ^ "The questions the Financial Ombudsman needs to answer". ABC News. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
13. ^ "What is a royal commission and why does Labor want one?". ABC News. 8 April 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.

External links

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• Australia

Australian Securities and Investments Commission at Wikipedia's sister projects:

• Data from Wikidata

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission
• MoneySmart – the consumer website of Australian Securities and Investments Commission

v t e Law enforcement in Australia
Police agencies	Australian Capital Territory Policing New South Wales Police Force Northern Territory Police Force Queensland Police Service South Australia Police Tasmania Police Victoria Police Western Australia Police Force
Federal agencies	Australian Federal Police Australian Border Force Maritime Border Command National Anti-Corruption Commission Australian Communications and Media Authority Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Australian Fisheries Management Authority Australian Maritime Safety Authority Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Australian Securities & Investments Commission Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Australian Taxation Office Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) Commonwealth Ombudsman
State and Territory authorities	Australian Capital Territory: ACT Integrity Commission New South Wales: Independent Commission Against Corruption New South Wales Crime Commission Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Northern Territory: Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Queensland: Crime and Corruption Commission South Australia: Independent Commission Against Corruption Tasmania: Integrity Commission Victoria: Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) Western Australia: Corruption and Crime Commission Gold Stealing Detection Unit
Military agencies	Australian Defence Force Investigative Service Joint Military Police Unit Royal Australian Corps of Military Police Royal Australian Air Force Airfield Defence Guards
Defunct agencies	Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service Australian Customs Service Australian Customs and Border Protection Service Australian Crime Commission National Crime Authority Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Office of Police Integrity (Victoria) Police Integrity Commission (NSW) Commonwealth Police CrimTrac
Topics	Australian police ranks Crime in Australia Punishment in Australia Terrorism in Australia Mass surveillance in Australia Police tactical units in Australia Reasonable and probable grounds

v t e Australian Government Agencies and Bodies
Defence and National Security	Australian Defence Force Australian Army Royal Australian Navy Royal Australian Air Force Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Australian Signals Directorate Defence Intelligence Organisation
Law Enforcement and Justice	Attorney-General's Department Australian Border Force Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Australian Federal Police Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions
Regulation and Finance	Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Australian Energy Regulator Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Australian Securities and Investments Commission Australian Taxation Office Productivity Commission
Health and Safety	Department of Health and Aged Care Therapeutic Goods Administration Food Standards Australia New Zealand Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency Safe Work Australia
Environment and Climate	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Clean Energy Regulator Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
Social Services and Employment	Services Australia National Disability Insurance Agency Department of Social Services Fair Work Ombudsman Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
Education and Research	Department of Education Australian Research Council Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
Technology, Infrastructure and Transport	Australian Space Agency Australian Communications and Media Authority Airservices Australia Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts
Civic and Oversight Bodies	Australian Electoral Commission Australian Bureau of Statistics Office of the Australian Information Commissioner Australian Human Rights Commission Commonwealth Ombudsman National Archives of Australia

v t e Business institutions, stock exchanges, and associations in Australia
Institutions	Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Australian corporate law Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Australian Securities & Investments Commission Australian Takeovers Panel Constitution of Australia, 1901 (Cth) corporations power Economy of Australia
Stock exchanges	Australian Securities Exchange National Stock Exchange of Australia Sydney Stock Exchange
Business associations	Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry Australian Hotels Association Australian Industry Group Business Council of Australia Minerals Council of Australia National Farmers' Federation
Corporate controversiesand collapses	Adelaide Steamship Company Ansett BBY Bridgecorp Holdings Camperdown Dairy International Dick Smith Holdings Firepower International Forum Group Great Southern Group James Hardie asbestos controversy George Calombaris and his self-owned restaurants HIH Insurance King Brothers Masters Home Improvement Network 10 Opes Prime Pasminco Poseidon bubble Price fixing in the packaging industry Offset Alpine fire One.Tel Qintex Storm Financial Teachers' Credit Society Timbercorp Virgin Australia Holdings WA Inc Wayne Mansfield Westpoint

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	United States