Risk Management

ASIC took administrative action against 36 approved self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) auditors between January and June 2026, bringing its total actions against SMSF auditors in FY26 to 64.

The outcome represents a year-on-year increase in the number of actions taken against SMSF auditors.

The actions address serious breaches of auditor obligations and reinforce ASIC’s focus on maintaining standards among gatekeepers responsible for auditing more than $1 trillion in SMSF assets in over 672,000 SMSFs.

ASIC took these actions for various breaches of the professional obligations of SMSF auditors, such as failing to maintain independence, non-compliance with auditing and assurance standards, non-compliance with continuing professional development requirements, failing to maintain practical experience, failing to lodge annual statements, and/or for not being a fit and proper person to remain registered as an approved SMSF auditor.

Former director Vickie Anne Vella who used over $1.2 million of company funds for her personal use, has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in the NSW District Court to be served by way of an Intensive Corrections Order.

Ms Vella was the former director of Coast Reo Pty Ltd and Midcoast Reinforcement Pty Ltd. The companies traded as Newcastle Plastamasta, Central Coast Plastamasta and Port Macquarie Plastamasta and supplied plasterboard and steel to the Central Coast and Port Macquarie areas of NSW.

On 23 July 2026, Ms Vella was convicted after earlier pleading guilty to one charge of using her position dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage or causing detriment.

Ms Vella was sole signatory to the Coast Reo and Midcoast bank accounts and between about 4 August 2016 and 5 April 2018 withdrew a total of approximately $1,216,806 and expended the funds on gambling, sequential cash withdrawals, iTunes and Star City Hotel Pyrmont subscriptions.

Coast Reo and Midcoast Reinforcement went into liquidation in 2018.

Former finance director Brendan Gunn has been sentenced in the Local Court of NSW for dealing with over $180,000 when it was reasonable to suspect that those funds were proceeds of crime.

Mr Gunn was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, to be released immediately upon entering into a recognizance of $3000 requiring he be of good behaviour for 12 months.

The funds were suspected of being proceeds of crime derived from an offshore cryptocurrency investment scam that targeted Australians.

The maximum sentence of imprisonment able to be imposed in a summary prosecution for this offence is 12 months.

From December 2018, Mr Gunn was a director of Mormarkets Pty Ltd, trading as Coinshype. Mormarkets received deposits from Australians for cryptocurrency and other purported investments.

Between January 2019 and May 2020, 22 separate bank accounts with six different financial institutions were opened in Mormarkets’ name. On a number of occasions, banks informed Mr Gunn that they had received complaints that funds credited to Mormarkets accounts had been affected by fraud or other suspicious activity.

All accounts associated with Mormarkets were eventually closed by the banks.

When two of the Mormarkets bank accounts were closed, Mr Gunn received two bank cheques which included proceeds of investment amounts totalling $181,000. He then dealt with the bank cheques by sending them to an associate. In January 2026, Mr Gunn pleaded guilty to dealing with this money that was reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime (26-009MR).

ASIC is inviting industry feedback on its proposal to remake a legislative instrument which exempts low-volume financial markets from the requirement to hold an Australian market licence.

The current relief, under the ASIC Corporations (Low Volume Financial Markets) Instrument 2016/888 (ASIC Instrument 2016/888), is scheduled to sunset on 1 October 2026.

ASIC proposes to remake the instrument because it is operating effectively and remains a necessary and useful part of the legislative framework.

The only substantive change proposed is an increase to the transaction value threshold for low-volume financial markets from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. This reflects factors including inflation, noting the threshold has not changed since 2016.

A financial market is considered a low volume financial market if, during the 12-months before it is included on the register:

• no more than 100 completed transactions are entered into, and
• the value of those transactions does not exceed the relevant threshold.

All other proposed amendments are minor, technical or consequential, and do not materially change the operation of the instrument.

The proposed draft instrument is available at CS 60 Proposed remake of low-volume financial markets instrument.

Regulatory guidance for Australia’s sell-side research will be reduced from 42 pages to just eight, under a new principles-based proposal by ASIC to facilitate greater investment in the local market.

The proposed revamp of Regulatory Guide 264 Sell-Side Research (RG 264) responds to industry feedback received through ASIC’s discussion paper on public and private markets seeking clearer and less prescriptive guidance to encourage more research to support capital raising activity.

Sell-side research is prepared by AFS licensees such as investment banks and stockbrokers to help clients make investment decisions including about upcoming initial public offerings (IPOs).

ASIC is seeking feedback on the changes that are designed to simplify the existing guidance by removing prescription and replacing RG 264 with a shorter, principles-based guide.

The updates will enable greater research analyst input into the IPO process – to facilitate capital raising activity – whilst requiring licensees to have effective arrangements to manage conflicts of interest, inside information and to preserve the independence of research.

The work forms part of ASIC’s response to feedback on the discussion paper and also reinforces ASIC’s ongoing focus on regulatory simplification.

A copy of the draft updated regulatory guide and a summary of the proposed changes are available on the consultation webpage at CS 59 Proposed updates to RG 264.

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.

Former MWL Financial Services Pty Ltd (MWL) financial adviser Christian Henry has been banned from providing personal financial advice, controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business or performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business for three years.

On 30 June 2026, ASIC convened a Financial Markets and Innovation roundtable (Roundtable) with thirty-two industry, academic and public sector participants. The discussion focused on how to keep Australia’s capital markets efficient, resilient and globally competitive while supporting innovation with appropriate investor protections. The Roundtable formed part of ASIC’s broader work to advance Australia’s evolving capital markets and coincided with the publication of Report 835 Innovation in Financial Markets and Financial Market Infrastructure.

Some participants highlighted Australia’s strengths, including trusted institutions, sophisticated investors and deep pools of capital, but warned that Australia risks global marginalisation unless it keeps pace with market developments. Many urged prioritising innovation that solves practical problems, boosts productivity and strengthens foundations for capital formation, liquidity, collateral mobility and global connectivity in an era of major global capital raising and AI-enablement.

Roundtable participants brought diverse perspectives, but four interconnected themes emerged.

ASIC is warning Australians to be extremely cautious of investment tips received through social media and messaging apps, amid a spike in reports of pump and dump scams using fake celebrity endorsements and impersonations of financial institutions.

ASIC has observed scammers using the identities and images of well-known finance industry figures, including respected market commentators and economists, to lure consumers into WhatsApp and other messaging groups where they are encouraged to buy investments, particularly shares.

Once consumers join a messaging group, scammers provide stock tips designed to artificially inflate the price of a share before selling their own holdings before the share price falls and leaving unsuspecting investors with significant losses.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said pump and dump scams continue to cause substantial harm to Australian investors.