27 April 2023 - ASIC releases updated guidance for licensees on reportable situations

ASIC has released updated guidance for industry on making notifications to ASIC under the reportable situations regime (formerly breach reporting).

The updates to Regulatory Guide 78 Breach reporting by AFS licensees and credit licensees (RG 78) clarify aspects of the existing guidance and provide new guidance in response to operational issues that have arisen since the implementation of the regime on 1 October 2021.

ASIC Executive Director (Acting), Financial Services & Wealth, Suneeta Sidhu said, ‘Our focus is to improve consistency and quality of reporting practices by licensees and reduce regulatory burden where we can. The improved guidance will support industry to meet their obligations, and support the regime to meet its policy objectives for ASIC, industry and consumers.

‘We acknowledged early on that there were some implementation challenges with the regime. Our updated guidance has been developed following consultation with industry on practical solutions to some of these challenges,’ concluded Ms Sidhu.

The updates to RG 78 include:

• clarifying the circumstances in which licensees may group multiple reportable situations into one report to ASIC;
• new guidance on the information to include when licensees describe a reportable situation; and
• new guidance for licensees on ASIC’s expectations when licensees are providing updates related to a reported breach.