Organised crime doesn’t stop when drugs, illicit tobacco or other illicit commodities are sold. Criminals then have another problem: what to do with the money.

An alleged transnational money laundering network suspected of laundering more than $123 million for multiple organised crime syndicates shows how criminals can provide financial infrastructure and services to other criminals.

AUSTRAC has supported a Taskforce Avarus investigation into the group(external link), which allegedly converted criminal cash into cryptocurrency and moved funds offshore through shell companies operating as corporate money mules.

Taskforce Avarus is an Australian Federal Police-led, multi-agency initiative targeting criminal networks that launder money in Australia.

It is an example of crime as a service, where specialist criminal networks can provide the infrastructure needed to move, convert and disguise the proceeds generated by other criminal activity.

ASIC has successfully defended the key liability, penalty and disqualification outcomes challenged by iSignthis Ltd (iSignthis), now known as Southern Cross Payments Ltd, and its former director and chief executive officer Nickolas John Karantzis.

The Full Federal Court yesterday largely dismissed the appellants’ appeals and upheld orders made by Justice McEvoy that iSignthis must pay a $10 million penalty for breaching disclosure laws and that Mr Karantzis be disqualified from managing corporations for six years and pay a $1 million penalty (24-132MR, 25-158MR).

The Full Court allowed the appeal on a limited aspect concerning the terms of one declaration made against Mr Karantzis during the liability judgment and ordered that the declaration be amended.

Today the Reserve Bank increased the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.85 per cent.

Today’s decision was widely expected but that doesn’t make it any easier for Australian families and businesses to absorb.

It will be difficult news for many Australians who are paying a hefty price for circumstances outside of their control.

Australians are already struggling and this will stretch their budgets even further.

The full impacts of the previous rate rises earlier this year haven’t been fully felt yet and will slow our economy further when they are.

Today’s decision was widely anticipated but not unanimous. This is unsurprising given considerable uncertainty in the outlook and risks in both directions.

The war in the Middle East is pushing up inflation and interest rates around the world and markets expect rates to rise in every major advanced economy.

The war is now in its ninth month and its re‑escalation is putting sustained upward pressure on inflation, weighing on growth, and its end can’t come soon enough for the global economy.

ASIC is urging superannuation trustees to take accountability for blind spots in their oversight of issues arising from member complaints after a review identified concerning weaknesses that could expose Australians to avoidable harm.

ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said findings detailed in Report 844 Lessons to be learned: How trustees use insights from superannuation complaints (REP 844) suggest too many trustees are failing to treat complaints as an early warning signal for service failures affecting members.

Attributable to ASIC Chair Sarah Court

ASIC is not currently convinced that prediction markets for retail clients are in the public interest.

Prediction market contracts have all the features of a bet. They are highly speculative, typically involving an all-or-nothing outcome based on the occurrence of a particular event, a characteristic they share with binary options, which are prohibited for retail clients in Australia. In many cases, these events have nothing to do with investment. They might include, for example, whether it will rain tomorrow or whether a particular sporting team will win or by how many goals. These features raise questions about whether prediction market contracts are appropriately described as investment products.

Prediction markets may also give rise to market integrity risks, including the misuse of confidential information, market manipulation and disputes over how outcomes are determined.

Australians who choose to access offshore prediction markets directly online should be aware that they do not have protections under Australian law.

Australian financial service licensees that facilitate access to offshore prediction markets should be aware that all their licence obligations under Australian law continue to apply to them in this activity.

Opening Statement by ASIC Chair Sarah Court at the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, Supplementary Budget Estimates, 29 October 2026

Opening remarks by ASIC Chair Sarah Court at the second ASIC Financial Markets and Innovation Roundtable in Sydney on 27 October 2026.

Key points

• Capital is increasingly mobile, and technology is changing how markets operate. Australia’s markets must remain accessible, efficient and resilient if they are to continue serving investors and businesses effectively.
• ASIC, policymakers, and industry should focus on practical changes that strengthen resilience, lift productivity, reduce unnecessary friction, and widen access to Australia’s capital markets.
• Effective capital markets support investment, innovation and economic growth. Their continued success depends on trust, confident participation and resilient market infrastructure.

ASIC has called for improvements in financial reporting and audit quality after its latest surveillance found preparers of financial reports and auditors are still not getting the fundamentals right.

ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke said preparers of financial reports and auditors need to lift their performance, particularly when financial reports depend heavily on judgement.

The Federal Court has today ordered The Star Entertainment Group (The Star) to pay a penalty of $260m following findings the casino operator breached Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws.

This follows other significant penalties and regulatory action imposed on The Star following Queensland and New South Wales casino inquiries for related regulatory failings.

Today the Court found The Star failed to maintain a compliant AML/CTF program and failed to monitor customers to identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks.

In determining the penalty, Justice Moore said The Star has already paid a significant price for its contravening conduct.

ASIC is seeking feedback on a proposal to extend existing tax advice exemption for licensees for a further five years.

The exemption in ASIC Corporations (Recognised Accountants: Exempt Services) Instrument 2016/1151 (ASIC Instrument 2016/1151) is due to expire on 1 April 2027.

ASIC considers that the exemption remains useful and necessary. It therefore proposes to remake the instrument with minor updates, without changing its effect.

Providing feedback

ASIC invites feedback on this proposal. Submissions should be sent to rri.consultation@asic.gov.au by 5 pm AEST 25 November 2026.

Refer to CS 67 Proposed remake of instrument allowing limited exempt tax advice

Background

ASIC Instrument 2016/1151 modifies the exemption in Regulation 7.1.29(4) of the Corporations Regulations 2001 so that licensees and their representatives can provide limited advice on the tax implications of financial products that fall outside the scope of their Australian financial services licence or authorisations.

Licensees and representatives relying on the exemption must provide a disclaimer making clear the limits of their authorisation (i.e. that they are not licensed or authorised to provide the advice), that tax is only one factor to consider, and that clients should consider seeking appropriately authorised advice before making a decision.

New statistics from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) reveal that incidents reported under the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme continue to rise, with a significant increase in the number of large-scale breaches affecting Australians in the first half of 2026.

The latest NDB statistics, covering January through June 2026, showed that the OAIC received 667 notifications, a minor increase over the 662 notifications received in the previous reporting period.

However, the statistics reveal a significant increase in breaches affecting large numbers of Australians. Breaches impacting between 100,000 and 250,000 individuals doubled from 3 to 6, while breaches affecting between 500,000 and 1,000,000 individuals rose from zero to 3. Globally, the number of breaches reported to us that impacted over 1,000,000 individuals also increased to 11, up from 4 in the prior period.

Give feedback on draft amendments to:

• section 69B of the Banking Act 1959
• ministerial rules under the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) Act.

Amendments to section 69B of the Banking Act 1959

The amendments increase the withdrawal limit to $30,000 from $15,000. They allow payment of court filing fees when applying for:

• probate of a deceased person’s will
• letters of administration of a deceased person’s estate.

Changes to the FAR Minister Rules

The enhanced notification threshold for banks would increase to $30 billion from $20 billion.

Banks with assets worth more than this have more reporting obligations under the FAR.

Give feedback on the draft Banking Regulations 2026.

They remake the Banking Regulations 2016 which expire on 1 April 2027. The draft regulations are mostly the same, with the following changes.

The draft regulations increase the covered bond issuance limit for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) to 12 per cent of an ADI’s assets. The current limit is 8 per cent.

The Council of Financial Regulators’ Review into Small and Medium-sized Banks recommended this change.

The draft regulations make small technical changes to:

• remove outdated references
• keep the regulations up to date and fit for purpose.

Overview

Give feedback on proposed changes to Australia’s personal insolvency system.

The exposure draft would amend the Bankruptcy Act 1966 to:

• increase the involuntary bankruptcy threshold from $10,000 to $20,000 and index it over time
• give debtors 28 days to respond to a bankruptcy notice, up from 21 days
• remove the proposal or acceptance of a debt agreement as an ‘act of bankruptcy’ under section 40(1).

Have your say

We want feedback from all users of the personal insolvency system. Your feedback will help identify concerns and apply the reforms effectively.

Read the attached exposure draft and its explanatory memorandum before providing your feedback.

Background

The government consulted on 4 proposals to improve Australia’s personal insolvency system in September 2023. It received 44 submissions from a range of sectors.

After considering the submissions, the former Attorney-General announced 4 priority reforms on 8 July 2024.

Machinery of Government changes transferred responsibility for the personal insolvency system to the Treasury in July 2025.

The exposure draft implements 3 of the 4 priority reforms.

The government also plans to reduce how long the public can search for a discharged bankrupt’s details on the National Personal Insolvency Index. We will consult on this reform at a later date.