Australian Securities & Investments Commission reports AUD 830 million in civil penalties and AUD 643.5 million in remediation for 2025-26

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has published enforcement and regulatory figures showing one of its strongest recent enforcement periods. For July 2025 to June 2026, courts imposed AUD 830 million in civil penalties in ASIC matters, including AUD 480 million ordered between January and June 2026, while AUD 643.5 million is being returned to tens of thousands of customers and investors through remediation, refunds and other payments connected to its work. Over the same period, ASIC launched more than 250 investigations, filed 32 new civil proceedings, commenced 18 new criminal prosecutions and recorded 25 criminal convictions. The largest civil outcomes included a record AUD 300 million penalty against Union Standard International Group for contracts for difference misconduct affecting retail investors, AUD 35 million penalties against both HSBC Bank Australia for scam protection failures and Macquarie Securities for systemic short sale misreporting, AUD 33.5 million against Walker Stores for unlawful credit practices, AUD 26 million against Westpac for failures in responding to hardship requests, and AUD 10.3 million against Mercer Super for systemic reporting failures. Criminal outcomes included 21 custodial sentences, with 11 individuals sentenced to imprisonment. ASIC also highlighted nearly AUD 40 million in refunds to contracts for difference investors, and said HSBC's remediation program has paid about AUD 21.5 million so far, with further payments due before the end of July 2026, alongside AUD 6.5 million recovered and returned to customers.