Why ASIC’s legal successes deliver cold comfort

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

21 July 2026

ANALYSIS

Those paying their annual levies to help fund the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) may be less than impressed by the regulator’s latest media activity declaring that it had secured $830 million in civil penalty orders over the last financial year.

ASIC’s announcement will inevitably be weighed against the monies it raises from the industry funding levy the and the reality that it operates with an annual operational and capital budget of somewhere between $516 million and $620 million.

It also needs to be viewed against the 18.6% increase in the estimated cost of levies to $400.5 million under the Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS) arrangements, details of which were released little more than a week ago.

Sadly, for financial advisers and others receiving levy invoices, the fines and other penalties exacted by ASIC action do not find their way back to the regulator to defray expenses. More usually such monies find its way into Commonwealth consolidated revenue.

Further, what needs to be understood about the court action pursued by ASIC is that it does not come cheap. The regulator’s own documentation shows that in 2024-25 it had total legal expenditure of $112,259,974 with $63,616,922 being directed towards external legal services, in other words major private law firms.

Those elements are understood to be behind former ASIC chair, Joe Longo’s expression of concerns around the depleted state of the regulator’s Enforcement Special Account.

Also worth noting is that while ASIC has, as it boasts, “delivered one of its strongest enforcement periods on record”, it has not always been a courtroom winner and a number of cases remain open to appeal.

But, for the record, ASIC says that from January to June this year it “secured court orders totalling $480 million in civil penalties against major banks, super trustees, market participants and financial services firms, including Union Standard, HSBC, Westpac, Macquarie Securities, and Mercer Super”.

“Together with the $350 million ordered in the first half, ASIC’s civil penalties orders now total $830 million for the 2025-2026 financial year.

“In connection with ASIC’s work, $644 million^* is being paid back to Australians, including more than $61 million announced in the first half of 2026, on top of the $583 million announced between June and December 2025,” the ASIC statement said.

The statement also noted that ASIC’s enforcement and regulatory figures from July 2025 to June 2026 reveals:

• $830 million in civil penalties imposed by courts
• $643.5 million to be delivered back to tens of thousands of customers and investors as part of remediation, refunds, and payments in connection with ASIC’s work
• ASIC launched more than 250 investigations
• 25 criminal convictions comprised of 21 custodial sentences (including 11 individuals sentenced to imprisonment) and four were non-custodial sentences
• 32 new civil proceedings were filed, 18 new criminal prosecutions commenced, and 25 criminal convictions were recorded against individuals
• $12 million in infringement notices and $137,315 in criminal fines.