In remarks to the Australian Finance Industry Association, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission outlined four workstreams it says are supporting Australia’s productivity agenda while preserving consumer and investor protections. The program centres on simplifying ASIC’s own regulatory documents and administrative processes, supporting financial innovation, contributing to cross-regulator better regulation work through the Council of Financial Regulators, and feeding into broader law reform and the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into business dynamism. On simplification, ASIC pointed to website restructuring, removal of obsolete pages, wider use of electronic signatures and the shift of 90% of paper-only forms to electronic submission, equivalent to about 57,000 paper forms a year. It also highlighted ongoing work to simplify legislative instruments and guidance and the RegistryConnect program to modernise business registers, improve search and streamline online registrations and lodgements, with work to link director IDs due to start by 1 July 2027 if the relevant bill passes. On innovation, ASIC said its Innovation Hub has helped around 1,000 fintech and regtech firms navigate regulation, while changes are being considered to improve the path from the regulatory sandbox to licensing as part of the government’s independent sandbox review. Through the Council of Financial Regulators, ASIC said the CFR Plus Better Regulation Roadmap released with the Budget contains more than 50 commitments, including 15 by ASIC, and could reduce regulatory burden across the sector by AUD 181 million through measures such as better data sharing, coordination and planning. ASIC also pointed to government law reform tranches estimated to reduce compliance costs by AUD 780 million a year, including changes to financial reporting thresholds, streamlined mandatory climate reporting and less frequent internal dispute resolution reporting for small to mid-sized banks. In the Productivity Commission’s business dynamism inquiry, ASIC said it has identified corporate insolvency issues for closer examination, including simplified liquidation settings, interactions with legal and business structures, pre-insolvency advice and creditor-defeating dispositions. It also flagged a financial markets innovation roundtable later in June, a car finance review report due soon, and further outputs on debt management and credit repair and debt collection in the coming months.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission2026-06-23
Australian Securities & Investments Commission outlines productivity agenda across regulatory simplification innovation and law reform
In a speech, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission set out a four-part productivity agenda covering regulatory simplification, support for innovation, cross-regulator reform and contributions to law reform. Measures include digitising ASIC interactions, updating business registers and refining the sandbox-to-licensing pathway, alongside 15 ASIC commitments in a Council of Financial Regulators roadmap estimated to cut sector regulatory burden by AUD 181 million. ASIC also pointed to government reforms estimated to reduce compliance costs by AUD 780 million a year and to further work on insolvency settings through the Productivity Commission’s business dynamism inquiry.