Call to amend ASIC Act to cover unfair practices

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

8 July 2026

A key Parliamentary Committee report has recommended that the upgraded consumer and competition protections addressing unfair competition practices be expanded into the financial services sector via ASIC Act amendments.

The final report of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry into legislation aimed at eliminating unfair trading practices accepted the arguments of a range of stakeholders, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that the unfair trading prohibition should be extended to financial products and services.

The committee’s final report on the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026 acknowledged that it had received evidence that “strongly supported extending the unfair trading practices prohibition beyond the Australian Consumer Law into the financial services regime to avoid regulatory gaps to ensure consistent consumer protections”.

It said the ACCC had emphasised that, without alignment with the ASIC Act, “there is a risk that harmful conduct in financial services will fall outside the new framework”.

It quoted the ACCC’s chair, Catriona Lowe as having stated to the committee that:

“Inconsistent protections across the Australian Consumer Law and ASIC Act lead to regulatory gaps that unscrupulous providers can take advantage of or that businesses can simply fail to fall within by happenstance and thereby escape regulation,” the report said.

The report also traversed the question of lead generation activities and quoted the Consumer Action Law Centre’s assistant director of Policy and Campaign, Susan Quinn who said that lead generation, particularly regarding ‘manipulative practices that are going on behind the scenes” really exemplified why the legislation’s proposed measures are needed.

It said that, in particular, Quinn had highlighted the role of lead generation in the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian funds in which “11,00 people have lost more than $1 billion in retirement savings”.

While supporting the passage of the legislation through the Senate, the committee’s final report recommended that the Government “provide an update on how it intends to consider replicating provisions to financial services through the ASIC Act”.