The corporate watchdog has closed out a busy financial year of enforcement that included major actions against several banks and lenders.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed total civil penalty orders of $830 million for the 2025–26 financial year (FY25), capping off one of the corporate watchdog’s busiest enforcement periods on record.
In a release issued on Monday (20 July 2026), ASIC confirmed it had secured court orders totalling $480 million in civil penalties against a range of institutions during the second half of the financial year, including major banks and super trustees.
Combined with the $350 million ordered in the first half of the financial year, the enforcement outcomes resulted in $644 million being paid back, according to ASIC.
ASIC also noted the $480 million figure does not include any proposed or agreed civil penalties that remain subject to the court’s approval.
During FY25, ASIC launched more than 250 investigations, filing 32 new civil proceedings and commencing 18 criminal prosecutions.
Notable enforcement action during the financial year included Westpac being ordered to pay a $26 million penalty for failures in responding to customer hardship requests, HSBC Bank Australia paying a $35 million penalty for scam protection failures, and Union Standard International Group being hit with a record $300 million penalty for serious contracts for difference (CFD) misconduct and failures affecting retail investors.
ASIC chair Sarah Court said the record enforcement year reflected the corporate regulator’s focus on exposing serious failures in systems, governance, and conduct.
“Our enforcement work is focused on misconduct that causes real harm and we are delivering results, forcing change, strengthening accountability, and returning money to consumers and investors,” she said.
“We are pursuing cases that expose serious failures in systems, governance and conduct, from scams and hardship failures to market infrastructure, superannuation, private credit, financial reporting, and digital assets.”
Court also said that while the regulator delivered record penalties and “strong criminal outcomes”, enforcement is not just about punishment.
“It is about detecting misconduct sooner, preventing harm where we can, and securing remediation for those affected,” she said.
“Our focus is on protecting investors, returning money where possible, and holding lawbreakers to account. Where we see serious harm or risks to market integrity, we will act quickly and use the full range of regulatory and enforcement tools available to us.”
Levies surge for credit intermediaries
The latest figures come a week after the corporate regulator released its 2025–26 Cost Recovery Implementation Statement (CRIS), outlining how much it expects to recover from each regulated subsector under its industry funding model.
For brokers and other credit intermediaries, the draft estimates point to another increase in levies, even before the final reconciliation of 2024–25 costs.
ASIC expects to recover $9.74 million from the credit intermediary subsector in 2025–26, up from $8.28 million in actual costs the previous financial year. The $1.46 million increase, or around 18 per cent, will be spread across 4,097 licence-holding entities.
ASIC has proposed a minimum levy of $1,000 for each credit intermediary, with invoices to be issued between January and March 2027 once costs are finalised in December 2026.
This means the per-representative levy is also set to increase from $89 in 2024–25 to $120 in 2025–26, meaning larger broker networks with more credit representatives are likely to face the biggest increase.
Across all regulated sectors, ASIC expects to recover $400.5 million in FY25, up from $337.6 million in 2Q24, an increase of almost 19 per cent.
[Related: ASIC levies surge for credit intermediaries]
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