Key Documents
Treasury is seeking stakeholder views on the draft Corporations Amendment (Client Money Reporting Rules Enforcement Powers) Regulations 2018.
These Regulations complete the Government’s client money reform agenda, designed to strengthen the protection of retail clients of financial services.
Specifically, the Regulations propose to give the regulator (the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC) necessary tools to enforce the ASIC Client Money Reporting Rules 2017. These Rules make Australian financial services licensees more accountable for the way they hold client money.
The Corporations Act 2001 already allows ASIC to impose a pecuniary penalty of up to $1 million for non-compliance with the ASIC Rules. The draft Regulations simply give ASIC alternatives to civil proceedings: namely, the ability to issue infringement notices and enter into enforceable undertakings with licensees. The resulting regime will effectively mirror those already operating to enforce ASIC’s market integrity, derivative transaction and trade reporting rules.