The final report of the Senate Economics Committee’s inquiry into the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has found that the corporate regulator consistently fails to prosecute offenders, while it responds to most reports of alleged misconduct by taking no further action.
“While ASIC tries to deflect criticism that it is a weak corporate regulator by promoting its recent enforcement actions, the reality remains that corporate law is under-enforced in Australia”, the report said.
“Too often, ASIC fails to respond to early warnings of corporate misconduct and does not routinely use the full extent of its powers to achieve strong enforcement outcomes”.
