ASIC targets predatory lending, dodgy insurance pricing

The corporate regulator targets predatory lending and greenwashing after laying 173 criminal charges in six months.

The corporate regulator has warned it will continue to target greenwashing, predatory lending, and misleading insurance pricing in a bid to crack down on white collar crime.

In an enforcement update on Wednesday, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission revealed it had doled out 173 criminal charges from matters it had investigated between July and December last year.

That was up slightly from 171 criminal charges over the six months to June.

As a result of ASIC’s work, courts imposed seven custodial sentences, with two people imprisoned. A further eight people were hit with non-custodial sentences.

ASIC said it had clawed back $76.3m in civil penalties over the six months to December on the back of several successful cases against banks and corporate Australia.

The regulator also issued 12 infringement notices, notching up $368,520 in penalties.

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the regulator would punish corporate wrongdoing and flagged more court action soon.

“We always use our enforcement resources very completely and there is no end of demand for that enforcement work,” she said.

ASIC’s data showed it prosecuted a further 86 people with strict liability offences, in summary prosecutions.

Ms Court said ASIC had upped its efforts in the last three months of the year, commencing actions to address misconduct, market integrity threats and consumer harms in sectors including financial services, retail and crypto-assets.

“We are very much continuing our greenwashing activity, we’ve issued a number of cautions and are likely to see court proceedings in relation to some greenwashing,” she said.

“We are particularly conscious of this whole area of sustainable finance and those representations that may be made through greenwashing remain a critical concern for investors.”

ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the regulator would punish corporate wrongdoing and flagged more court action soon.

The corporate regulator, which targets misconduct across the business landscape, said it had also taken action in 11 civil penalty cases.

These include the legal action launched against Star Casino and its board over allegations they failed to act to prevent allegedly widespread money laundering in the gaming group.

Ms Court said ASIC was closely watching Austrac’s court action against Star, Crown, and SkyCity over alleged money laundering and may look to commence legal action if it identified breaches of director’s duties.

“We are continuing to look at director’s duties and director misconduct,” Ms Court said.

ASIC also took action against Harvey Norman and Latitude Finance over the spruiking of credit cards to customers.

The regulator has taken several steps in recent months to stop customers and investors being sold unsuitable financial services.

ASIC said 14 interim stop orders had been issued over the six months, slapping stop orders on two perpetual funds among a raft of other blocks.

Crypto fund Holon Investments was barred from taking on investors after ASIC found it had noncompliance target market determination statements.

ASIC took action against Finder over its crypto product over allegations the company offered unlicensed financial services and failed to comply with design and distribution obligations.

“We will also remain focused on helping industry to meet their legal obligations, including by providing simple, effective and easy-to-access guidance,” Ms Court said.

The update comes ahead of ASIC’s appearance before Senate Estimates on Thursday morning.