Out of 50 financial services matters carried out by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in the first half of the year, 10 were regarding financial advice.
None of those were criminal, with three being civil and seven being administrative.
Investment management misconduct had three civil and two administrative outcomes, while superannuation had one criminal and one civil outcome.
Current investigations included four criminal and five civil for advice, eight criminal and five civil for super, and five criminal and two civil for investment management.
Between January and June 2021, ASIC recorded the following enforcement outcomes:
- $29.6 million in civil penalties imposed by the courts;
- 133 people or companies prosecuted for strict liability offences;
- 70 people or entities removed or restricted from providing financial services or credit;
- 19 people disqualified or removed as directors of companies;
- Five people imprisoned and five more given non-custodial sentences;
- Three infringement notices issued; and
- One court enforceable undertaking accepted by ASIC.
ASIC commenced 12 civil penalty proceedings during the period and commenced court action targeting misconduct in insurance, superannuation, markets, auditing and credit.
Commonwealth Bank’s $7 million penalty was the second largest for 1H, followed by $20 million for Forex CT which was infamous for its attempts to replicate ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ trading culture.
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