The Consumer Credit Legal Centre (NSW) has made a submission to the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Summary of Submissions
• ASIC has been a very effective regulator in the consumer credit space. It has been very active in the first few years of taking over this role from the State governments in 2010 and has taken some well target activities to address areas of likely consumer detriment.
• ASIC could do more to keep the market aware of its focus and compliance activities. Industry players need to be reassured that wayward competitors are under scrutiny where appropriate so that competitive pressures do not place downward pressure on compliance standards.
• ASIC needs to respond to consumer complaints in a timely fashion and, where timeliness is not practical, keep consumers (and their advocates) informed in some appropriate way.
• ASIC needs some better regulatory tools so that it can react in a timely and effective manner to prevent consumer detriment.
• We encourage ASIC to continue to conduct and foster research, gather evidence from complaints and surveillance activity, and work with consumer advocates and industry to develop creative solutions to problems and inform government about regulatory gaps or weaknesses in their enforcement capacity.
