Courses for Financial Markets Professionals

ASIC alleges thousands of home loan customers suffering financial distress were impacted by the failure of Resimac Limited to ensure it provided appropriate care when responding to hardship applications as required by its credit licence.

Resimac manages non-bank loans provided by Perpetual Trustee Company Limited.

ASIC alleges that Resimac imposed a ‘one size fits all’ approach to hardship applications, and that it typically requested extensive standard information from vulnerable customers without considering whether all of it was relevant and reasonably necessary in light of their individual circumstances and any information they had already provided to Resimac.

Following the first round of consultation that began in late 2024, we are seeking further feedback on new Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules (AML/CTF Rules).

With the advent of CPS 230 Operational Risk Management looming, it’s no surprise that operational resilience was a running theme, firstly when APRA Executive Director of Cross-industry Risk Chris Gower spoke at the AFIA Risk Summit 2025.

Information security, operational resilience, and non-financial risks more broadly also got mentions in APRA Chair John Lonsdale’s opening remarks to the Business Council of Australia boardroom lunch.

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland addressed the AFIA Risk Summit, indicating that following surveillances of small amount credit contract providers and car finance sold to vulnerable customers, the role of mortgage brokers in facilitating access to credit was now in its sights.

Key points

• The future direction of our public and private markets affects almost every Australian – and will undoubtedly help shape our economy.
• We have a window of opportunity to design the public markets we want to see – and grease the wheels a bit to get public listings moving.
• At the same time, we are at a turning point that could alter the trajectory of private markets to instil further market integrity and confidence.

ASIC is suing Snaffle (operated by Walker Stores Pty Ltd) alleging it inflated the cost of household goods and electronics such as washing machines, fridges and mobile phones, and applied unlawful interest charges under its credit contracts.

ASIC alleges Snaffle’s pricing structure circumvented a cap on the costs that can be imposed under credit contracts (the Annual Cost Rate), which is designed to protect consumers, allegedly resulting in customers paying hundreds of dollars more in interest payments than they should have.

ASIC has published its financial reporting and audit focus areas for the 2025-26 financial year and highlighted the progress of its ongoing financial reporting and audit surveillance programs.

‘These surveillance programs aim to enhance the integrity and quality of financial reporting and auditing in Australia. We expect all entities to provide reports and audits that are accurate, complete and informative,’ said ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke.

ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of SME Crowdfunder Pty Ltd (SME).

The licence was cancelled because SME had ceased providing financial services and had not provided any financial services since September 2023.

The cancellation took effect on 2 May 2025.

SME may apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

AUSTRAC issued infringement notices of $75,120 to digital currency exchange provider Cointree Pty Ltd for the alleged failure to submit suspicious matter reports (SMRs) to AUSTRAC on time.

The action came after Cointree voluntarily disclosed it had not met the reporting timeframes required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said that failing to submit SMRs on time denies AUSTRAC and its law enforcement partners the opportunity to act on the information in a timely manner.

ASIC has issued two infringement notices totalling $37,560 to insurance company Zurich Australia Limited for allegedly making false or misleading statements to two policyholders regarding their entitlement to benefit payments.

In May 2024, Zurich declined two trauma insurance claims advising the policyholders that their particular medical conditions were excluded, and no benefit was payable.

ASIC alleges that these statements were false or misleading as the policy terms applicable to the trauma cover held by the policyholders did not exclude their medical conditions and they were entitled to a benefit payment.

Zurich discovered these errors following a quality assurance review and subsequently remediated the policyholders paying them their benefit entitlements with interest. Zurich also reported the matter to ASIC.

AUSTRAC has ordered the appointment of an external auditor to Mercedes Benz Financial Services Australia after raising concerns about the financier’s compliance with the AML/CTF Act.

Among the concerns were serious issues such as assuming most customers were low risk, a lack of systems to identify and escalate suspicious matters, and inadequate transaction monitoring.

AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said the non-bank lending sector, such as mortgage providers, personal loans, equipment and motor vehicle financing and leasing, have a responsibility to ensure they have the resources and processes in place to comply with their AML/CTF obligations.

ASIC is suing Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) alleging it engaged in misleading conduct by misreporting millions of short sales to the market operator for over 14 years.

In proceedings filed in the NSW Supreme Court, ASIC alleges that between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024, MSAL failed to correctly report the volume of short sales by at least 73 million. ASIC estimates that this could be between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales.

ASIC, in its first short sale reporting case, alleges the misleading conduct was due to multiple systems-related issues, many of which remained undetected for over a decade.

Accurate short sale reporting matters. Obligations to report short sales were introduced in 2009, following the Global Financial Crisis. Short sale data is used to inform investors, governments, regulators and financial market participants about market sentiment and potential risks. It also assists in detecting market misconduct and supports market integrity.

Joint efforts under AUSTRAC’s Fintel Alliance have led to significant law enforcement outcomes, prompting AUSTRAC to expand its successful intelligence partnership.

Fintel Alliance is a world leading public-private partnership where members and law enforcement work together and share data in real time to target serious crime.

AUSTRAC CEO, Brendan Thomas said the Intelligence Division’s Fintel Alliance has been so productive that the agency will now make its collaborative data analytics hub a central function going forward.

The Federal Court has ordered that HCF Life Insurance Company Pty Limited pay a pecuniary penalty of $750,000 and, as agreed by the parties, make corrective disclosures on its website following the Court’s finding in October 2024 that a pre-existing condition term in certain HCF Life Insurance policies was liable to mislead the public.

The term was used in four policies issued under HCF Life’s ‘Recover’ range of products. HCF Life sent corrective notices to affected consumers prior to the penalty hearing.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, “ASIC brought this case to ensure consumers were not misled about their rights and the extent of their cover by HCF Life’s pre-existing condition term. The Court’s findings and penalty handed down should serve as a message to insurers of their responsibility to ensure the information distributed to consumers is accurate and consistent with the law.”

Justice Jackman found that whilst HCF Life had no intention to engage in misleading conduct, “the contravening conduct should be regarded as objectively serious.”

AUSTRAC is encouraging inactive digital currency exchange (DCE) businesses to voluntarily withdraw their registrations or risk having it cancelled.

DCEs must be registered with AUSTRAC before they can offer a service to exchange cash for cryptocurrency, or vice versa. This includes cryptocurrency ATM providers.

There are currently 427 registered DCEs but AUSTRAC is concerned that a significant proportion are inactive. AUSTRAC is contacting any DCEs that appear to no longer be trading.

The ACCC is encouraging businesses to review their card payment surcharges to ensure they are in line with their cost of accepting card payments.

Businesses should also ensure they adequately disclose upfront any card payment surcharges that apply, so that their customers can make informed decisions before ordering, booking and paying for a product or service.

Misleading surcharging practices and other add-on costs is a compliance and enforcement priority for the ACCC in the 2025-26 financial year.

As part of its commitment to enhance transparency and accountability, ASIC is consulting on plans to publish two dashboards containing firm-level Reportable Situations (RS) and Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) data in the second half of 2025.

The proposals detailed in CP 383 Reportable situations and internal dispute resolution data publication (CP 383) build on the high-level insight reports ASIC has previously published.

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said the publication of the dashboards would boost transparency, drive improved performance, and help deliver better consumer outcomes, the latter being one of ASIC’s key strategic priorities.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has accepted a Court Enforceable Undertaking (CEU) from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) to address ongoing weaknesses in the bank’s non-financial risk management practices and risk culture.

APRA has also increased the capital add-on applied to ANZ from $750 million to $1 billion. This comes after APRA last year increased the $500 million operational risk capital add-on applied in 2019 by $250 million.

APRA has had long-standing concerns over ANZ’s non-financial risk management practices and risk culture. These include weaknesses in ANZ’s operational risk and compliance management and a reactive risk culture. APRA has been taking measures, through reviews and engagements with ANZ, to supervise the bank’s remediation of these weaknesses. However, we have observed that these weaknesses remain present across the bank.

In 2026, new services and entities will begin coming under AUSTRAC regulation following reforms to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws. The reformed laws also impact current reporting entities.

We have developed a webpage to help you stay up to date on the latest information relating to the reforms. You’ll find information to help you understand upcoming changes to your obligations, new industries to be regulated and risks and indicators of suspicious activity.