ASIC to report use of coercive powers

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed it will be complying with the recommendations of a Senate Committee and detailing its use of coercive powers each year in its annual report.

The regulator’s undertaking was included in a letter written by ASIC deputy chair Belinda Gibson (pictured) to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, David Bradbury.

The undertaking represents a victory for a number of organisations, including the Rule of Law Institute of Australia (ROLIA). The ROLIA has argued for more transparency on the part of the financial service regulators with respect to their use of coercive powers.

The Senate Committee had considered the issue in the context of new legislation extending ASIC’s powers concerning search warrants and telephone intercepts.

Gibson said that ASIC would include the number and nature of the search warrants it exercised in future annual reports, but she claimed that because other agencies such as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) would be involved in phone intercepts, similar reporting would not be appropriate.

Her letter noted, however, that she understood agencies such as the AFP were already subject to comprehensive reporting requirements under the Telecommunications Interception and Access Act 1979.