ASIC has 46 financial services matters underway without final result

Maria Nikolova

As at July 1, 2019, the regulator had 17 criminal and 29 civil financial services-related matters underway that had not attained a final result.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has just posted its Enforcement Update for the January – June 2019 period, with the document showing how the regulator pursues its work via its ‘Why not litigate?’ enforcement approach.

As at July 1, 2019, ASIC had 17 criminal and 29 civil financial services-related matters underway that had not attained a final result because:

  • the court/tribunal had determined liability but not decided the penalty or final order;
  • a plea was entered but the court/tribunal had not yet made a decision on conviction or sentence, or
  • the court had not yet decided if a breach of law or an offence was committed.

Further, in the six months between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2019, ASIC recorded 51 financial services-related outcomes.

Let’s recall that, in a recent speech, ASIC’s Commissioner John Price noted that the regulator is significantly increasing and accelerating court-based enforcement outcomes driven by its new enforcement strategy, a “why not litigate?” stance, and it is looking to use the full extent of its new penalties and powers.

This means that if ASIC is satisfied that breaches of the law are more likely than not, and it is evident from the facts of the case that the pursuit of the matter would be in the public interest, then the regulator will actively ask itself: why not litigate this matter?

A “why not litigate?” strategy represents a rigorous approach to deciding which tool is the right one, bearing in mind:

  • the need to deter future misconduct, and
  • community expectations that wrongdoing be pursued and punished through the courts.

ASIC reports that between July 2018 and June 2019 it increased:

  • the number of ASIC enforcement investigations by 20%
  • enforcement investigations involving the big six (or their officers or subsidiary companies) by 51%
  • wealth management investigations by 216%.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

Digital Assets

Masa and LayerZero: Bridging Blockchains for Data Sovereignty

Masa Network is poised to revolutionize the personal data landscape with its upcoming launch as a cross-chain platform, making it accessible on a variety of blockchains right from the start.

Digital Assets

Big Time Generates over $100M in Revenue since Preseason

Innovative game developer Big Time Studios announces that its highly anticipated free-to-play multiplayer action/MMO RPG Big Time, has generated $100M in revenue. According to the team, players transacted a total volume of over $230M, without selling a single token.

Digital Assets

Centralized exchanges are 10 times more popular than DEXs in Western Europe

Western European traders are found to prefer centralized exchanges over decentralized ones as CEX traffic outpaces DEXs by a factor of ten.

Market News

Stock Market Analysis: Is NVDA Losing Its Leadership?

Since the beginning of the week, the S&P 500 Index (US500) has seen a modest increase of about 0.58%, whereas NVDA’s share price has experienced a decline of approximately 3.8%. This recent divergence raises concerns among Nvidia stock investors — could it signify a loss of NVDA’s market leadership?

<