ASIC’s enforcement priorities for 2026: Momentum and fresh focus for the year ahead

Misleading pricing practices impacting cost of living for Australians noting recent enforcement action around such matters as “pricing promises”.

Test pricing communications for accuracy and clarity – particularly on renewal and comparison pricing. Don’t let legacy templates dictate future communications.

Poor private credit practices in light of the rapidly expanding private credit sector, noting significant room for improvement.

Review governance processes, business methodologies and disclosure practices, and enhance them where necessary.

Financial reporting misconduct including failure to lodge financial reports - highlighting the importance of financial reporting to facilitate informed decision-making by stakeholders and a particular focus on non-lodgement of financial reports by large proprietary companies.

This priority follows on from ASIC’s Report REP 819 relating to oversight of financial reporting and audit.

Continue to assess as needed your accounting controls, impairment assessments and valuations.

Continue to consider the application of the mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requirements for large businesses and financial institutions.

Misconduct exploiting consumers facing financial difficulty including predatory credit practices – expect a continued focus on business models that seek to circumvent credit protections, and unfair debt management and collection practices.

Map your business model against the relevant regulatory regime. Eliminate aspects of business models that seek to avoid consumer protections.

Ground your debt management and recovery processes on fair, transparent and lawful methodologies.

Continuing ASIC’s work to hold those responsible for the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds to account with multiple court proceedings on foot.

ASIC has commenced a number of proceedings in relation to the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds.

All participants in the financial services industry should be alert about the risk of such significant failures. This is not just about the funds themselves. Where there are significant failures and poor outcomes for investors, ASIC is likely to scrutinise not only the trustees of the funds, but also advisers, lead generators, auditors, research houses and others doing business around failed funds. 

Claims and complaint handling failures by insurers in an environment of increasing premiums and rising claims.

Assess your claims and complaint processes against your obligations as a financial services licensee and your utmost good faith obligations as an insurer.

If needed, elevate claims triage and handling processes with a focus on timeliness and quality of claims handling.

Be prepared to scale up rapidly when widespread disaster events (floods, fires, storms) occur.

Unlawful practices seeking to evade small business creditors - noting the frustrations of small business owners when directors of non-paying counterparties are not held to account.

Consider whether a review is needed of your payment practices and governance processes around all creditors, including smaller businesses. 

Holding super trustees to account for member services failures which have taken many forms, including claims processing delays and failures to merge multiple member accounts.

Assess your processing timelines and quality of member services. If you identify shortcomings, seek advice on remediating past conduct and enhance your processes for the future.

Strengthening investigation and prosecution of insider trading conduct - with a determination to maintain Australia’s international reputation for its clean market.

Reinforce your controls, surveillance and conflicts management protocols with a particular focus on high-risk trading activities and the handling of price sensitive information.

Don’t forget to address prevention of other types of inappropriate trading that may contravene market manipulation prohibitions.

Auditor misconduct - with a continued focus on the impact of audit failures on the erosion of trust and confidence in the market.

This priority follows ASIC Report 817 Building trust: Auditor compliance with independence and conflict of interest obligations (REP 817).

ASIC concluded that auditors from audit firms of differing sizes were “unable to effectively demonstrate compliance with independence and conflict of interest obligations”.