ASIC to consult on series of RG updates in 2025

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it is updating five regulatory guides (RGs) and seeking input from stakeholders to ensure the RGs “remain simple to follow, effective, current, and appropriate”.

The RGs ASIC said it intends to update next year, include:

• Regulatory Guide 53 The use of past performance in promotional material;
• Regulatory Guide 168 Disclosure: Product Disclosure Statements (and other disclosure obligations);
• Regulatory Guide 181 Licensing: Managing conflicts of interest;
• Regulatory Guide 183 Approval of financial services codes of conduct; and
• Regulatory Guide 234 Advertising financial products and services (including credit): Good practice guidance.
• The consultation, it said, will take into account law reform, insights from case law about the provisions and other relevant issues.

RG 181, which was issued in 2004, sets out ASIC’s approach to compliance with the statutory obligation to manage conflicts of interest, guidance for licensees generally on controlling and avoiding conflicts of interest, and guidance for licensees generally on disclosing conflicts of interest.

ASIC has put regulatory simplicity high on its agenda going forward, with chair Joe Longo saying at its annual forum earlier this month that regulators “can make it better or worse”.

“Now, it may appear to some that ASIC is responsible for some of the complexity – by way of the numerous legislative instruments we issue, for example. We also regularly receive feedback that the guidance we issue is too much, or too little. But the reality is that those instruments, along with our guidance, are designed to solve problems and help the framework function effectively,” Longo said.

“Indeed, one could argue that one indicator of the clarity and efficacy of a particular piece of legislation is the number of supplementary documents it requires to be understood and to work effectively – the number of modifications, instruments, explanatory material, and pages of regulatory guidance.

“I cannot stress enough that the legislative and regulatory complexity I’ve highlighted, and the constant pipeline of change and reform, has implications for everyone.”

He also announced that ASIC would convene a Simplification Consultative Group made up of key consumer advocates, business leaders and directors, and industry groups to identify how ASIC can “more efficiently and more effectively administer the law. How the levers and guidance available to ASIC can be more helpful”.

Longo added: “While the focus of this regulatory simplification work will start with ASIC, through this process I expect we will gain insights and ideas for new mechanisms that can provide more analysis and recommendations for reform.

“Ultimately, we want to establish a consensus about what needs to be done, to ensure we tend towards simplicity for future regulatory development and implementation.”