The Australian Securities & Investments Commission published a keynote speech by Chair Joe Longo setting out a policy agenda to modernise Australia’s capital markets as public and private markets converge and technology accelerates change. The speech accompanied the launch of an ASIC report on advancing Australia’s evolving capital markets, announced a review and re-launch of the ASIC Innovation Hub, and put the private credit sector on notice to lift industry practices, with the prospect of law reform if standards do not improve. The capital markets work points to actions aimed at invigorating public markets, including streamlining the initial public offering process, engaging with industry on amended listing frameworks, new trading platforms and expanding approved foreign markets for Australian listings. It also flags areas where regulatory settings may need recalibration to reduce incentives for regulatory arbitrage between public and private markets, including revisiting the Corporations Act proprietary company threshold (currently 50 non-employee shareholders) and the growing length of prospectuses (an average of 266 pages in 2024 versus 109 in 2005), alongside consideration of whether some reporting requirements should be tiered by company size. On private markets, Longo highlighted risks linked to private credit’s rapid growth (estimated at more than AUD 200 billion after 500% growth over a decade), including lower transparency, unclear fee structures and limited experience of the sector under stress, noting ASIC interventions involving La Trobe Financial and TruePillars Investment Trust and reiterating ASIC’s push to strengthen managed investment scheme requirements, improve data reporting and secure stronger oversight powers. ASIC said the re-launched Innovation Hub will begin with an effectiveness assessment and a scan of financial market innovation in Australia and overseas to identify regulatory issues and opportunities, operating with an open-door engagement approach. The speech also pointed to ASIC’s support for the Government’s review of the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox and noted preliminary discussions with the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre and the University of Technology Sydney on using ASIC’s data holdings more effectively.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission 2025-11-05
Australian Securities & Investments Commission launches capital markets reform blueprint and will relaunch Innovation Hub while warning private credit sector on standards
ASIC Chair Joe Longo outlined a policy agenda to modernize Australia's capital markets, focusing on public-private market convergence and technology's role. Key initiatives include streamlining the IPO process, revisiting regulatory settings to reduce arbitrage, and addressing risks in the growing private credit sector. ASIC also announced a review and re-launch of its Innovation Hub and highlighted collaborations to enhance data utilization.