The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has unveiled its 2026 enforcement priorities, targeting areas including private credit practices, financial reporting failures, insurance complaints and claims handling, and misleading pricing practices.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court (pictured) said the regulator’s new priorities aim to protect consumers from financial harm and uphold market integrity as households and businesses continue to face cost-of-living pressures.
“We are continuing to deliver strong, visible and active enforcement outcomes,” Court said.
“We’re doing more investigations, taking more matters to court and securing record penalties.
"In the last 12 months, we’ve doubled the number of new investigations and nearly doubled the number of new matters filed in court. We’ve also worked hard to increase our criminal prosecutions, and seen lengthy sentences imposed for financial fraud offences.”
Speaking at ASIC’s Annual Forum on Nov. 13, Court reinforced that strong enforcement remains central to ASIC’s mission.
“We are not, and never will be, the compliance arm of large corporations,” she said, citing past court actions—such as the RACQ “pricing promises” case—as examples of enforcement driving real change across industries.
“Strong and active corporate law enforcement means the rules of the game are clear, the playing field is level and those breaking the law are held to account.”
ASIC’s 2026 enforcement priorities include:
The regulator will also continue to focus on long-standing areas such as insider trading, predatory lending targeting vulnerable consumers, small-business creditor evasion, and auditor misconduct.
“Our 2026 enforcement priorities reflect emerging risks like those in private credit, as well as the challenges Australians face while contending with higher living costs,” Court said.
“ASIC will zero in on misleading pricing practices in the financial services sector, particularly those that make everyday costs harder for Australians.”
Court said ASIC’s expanding surveillance in private credit reflects growing risk in a sector that has attracted significant investor inflows amid tighter bank lending.
“In line with our increased surveillance across private credit, we won’t hesitate to take enforcement action to stamp out misconduct in the sector so we can support confident and informed participation, investor protection and market integrity,” she said.
Court noted that the recent private credit fund surveillance report revealed “significant room for improvement” in governance, transparency, and risk management — warning that 2026 would see tougher scrutiny of fund models and financial reporting compliance.
“Reliable financial information remains more important than ever, particularly as entities with unlisted assets, such as super funds and private credit funds, play a bigger role in the economy,” the ASIC leader said.
“In 2026, we will step up enforcement action against financial reporting misconduct.”
ASIC said it continues to investigate the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds, describing it as “one of ASIC’s largest and most complex cases ever.”
“We have been focused on returning available money to investors and the next stage is holding those responsible to account for the Shield and First Guardian collapses,” Court said.
Recent outcomes highlight the scale of ASIC’s enforcement activity:
Court also warned that compliance frameworks mean little without accountability and action.
“It doesn’t matter if there is a thick compliance manual if no one pays it any attention,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if compliance professionals are in the room if poor conduct and breaches of company policy are not immediately called out.”
She emphasised that ASIC’s enforcement work would continue to target systemic compliance failures and corporate culture weaknesses, not just technical breaches.
ASIC said the 2026 priorities are designed to “send a clear and effective signal” to the market about where resources will be concentrated.
Alongside the annual priorities, ASIC’s enduring goals remain — protecting First Nations and vulnerable consumers, upholding market integrity, acting against systemic failures, and maintaining a fair and efficient financial system.
“ASIC’s goal is to help all Australians through promoting market integrity and consumer protection in the Australian financial system,” Court said.
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