Infringement notices for Equity Trustees – June 19, 2025
Equity Trustees Limited has, as a responsible entity of Artesian Green, paid A$56,340 ($36,468) to comply with three infringement notices connected to misleading investments statements regarding the Sustainable Bond Fund.
“A responsible entity must have measures in place for ensuring it complies with its obligations as an AFS licensee.”
Sarah Court, Deputy Chair, ASIC
According to ASIC, multiple fund statements between April 2024 and November 2024 claimed the fund was investing in green, sustainable and social corporate bonds issued by companies. The statements were found not to be correct.
Inquiry into ASX – June 16, 2025
ASIC has started an inquiry into Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) group after ongoing concerns over its capability to maintain stable, secure and resilient critical market infrastructure.
The inquiry will be led by an expert panel, and will focus on governance, capability and risk management frameworks and practices across the ASX group.
The panel will then make recommendations to address any identified shortcomings or deficiencies, and ASIC will publish a report of the outcomes and potential next steps.
The Commission will stop its current investigation of the December 20, 2024, CHESS Batch Settlement failure as it will be included in the inquiry.
“ASIC’s decision to initiate an Inquiry follows repeated and serious failures at ASX.”
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia earlier issued a joint letter after the failures, expressing increasing worry over the management of operational risk at ASX.
ASIC also took ASX to the Federal Court in August 2024 for not being truthful about the CHESS replacement project’s progress.
Receivers appointed to Australian Fiduciaries Ltd – June 16, 2025
ASIC has applied for asset preservation orders and to appoint receivers for Australian Fiduciaries Ltd while its investigation into the company continues.
About 600 Australian retail investors are believed to have invested around A$160m ($104.4m) into managed investment schemes by the company, mostly through self-managed super funds, yet the company stopped distributing units in the schemes in September 2023.
Australian Fiduciaries has currently failed to lodge its latest audited financial statements or audited compliance plan reports for its registered managed investment schemes, and has not updated investors about their investments since May 2024.
With the application, ASIC seeks to preserve the scheme’s assets, and to get a clearer picture of the financial positions of the company and its schemes.
ASIC news week 25
On June 19, ASIC Chair Joe Longo spoke to Business News Senior Editor Mark Pownall at the Business News Success and Leadership event in Perth. The discussion touched on Longo’s career with his background in law, going from the defence side over to the investigative side with ASIC, and navigating regulatory systems.
“My standard view was that getting the law right wasn’t really the hardest part,” Longo said, adding “the hardest part is very often people. It’s culture, it’s uncertainty, it’s emotion. It’s people feeling defensive of whether they’ve done the wrong thing, and the impact of whatever went wrong on the reputation of the bank.”
Longo also spoke about his and the Commission’s work, and the journey to become a more transparent authority.
In his position as Chair, Longo said he wakes up every morning wondering if the Commission is making the right choices and focusing on the right problems. And if they are addressing the problems in a way that “actually help all Australians.”
He highlighted ASIC’s work around public and private markets, and said that even though some surveillance work is underway on some private credit entities, there is no intention to “rush in and regulate.” Yet he voiced the importance of making sure everyone understands what’s going on in the markets around what sort of money that is available, what sort of transactions that are occurring, and risks.
Longo also added the Commission had seen some concerning behaviors around valuations, disclosure of confidence and governance, yet it is too early to say if that could “be dealt with under existing law.”
Speech
In a keynote at the Australian Finance Industry Association Risk Summit in Surfers Paradise on June 17, ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland addressed the important role of credit, especially in times of hardship, high inflation and cost-of-living pressures.
As credit can help people respond to unexpected events, and provide better control of life with paying and repaying options, credit also comes with risks, Commissioner Kirkland said, and emphasized that “lending needs to be fair.”
He said that lenders need to consider consumers’ needs and objectives, and not to put consumers at risk of financial hardship where that is foreseeable at the time of the loan. He added that lenders need to respond quickly to requests for hardship assistance.
“It’s extremely disappointing that we continue to receive so many reports of misconduct in relation to failures to comply with basic and longstanding consumer protection laws,” Commissioner Kirkland said. He added that consumer credit protection is a priority for the Commission, and that it will continue to act in response to serious misconduct.
He also addressed some of the enforcement actions ASIC has taken in the matter, with ongoing actions against Diamond Wheels, Keo Automotive and a former director, Money3 Loans, Swoosh Finance, and Oak Capital, and successful actions against Green County, Rent4Keeps, Harvey Norman and Latitude.
