Australian Securities and Investments Commission

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Australian Securities and Investments Commission
ASIC logo.JPG
Statutory authority overview
Formed 1 July 1998; 26 years ago (1998-07-01)
Preceding agencies
Dissolved Australian Securities Commission
Jurisdiction Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters Sydney, New South Wales
Employees 2,017 (As of April 2013)[1]
Minister responsible
Statutory authority executives
  • Gregory Medcraft,
    Chairman
  • Peter Kell, Deputy Chairman
  • Cathy Armour, Commissioner
  • John Price, Commissioner
  • Gregory Tanzer, Commissioner
Key document
Website www.asic.gov.au

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to enforce and regulate company and financial services laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors.[2] ASIC was established on 1 July 1998 following recommendations from the Wallis Inquiry. ASIC's authority and scope is determined pursuant to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act, 2001 (Cth).

ASIC is responsible for the administration of all or parts of the following legislation:[3]

History

ASIC was originally formed as the Australian Securities Commission (ASC), which came into being on 1 January 1991 in accordance with the (then) ASC Act 1989. The purpose of the ASC was to unify corporate regulators around Australia by replacing the National Companies and Securities Commission and the Corporate Affairs offices of the states and territories.

The corporate regulator became the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) on 1 July 1998, when it also became responsible for consumer protection in superannuation, insurance, deposit taking. It has since gained further responsibilities: in 2002 for credit, the Australian Stock Exchange in 2009, and Chi-X in 2011.

In 2012, ASIC called for powers to use data which other intelligence agencies have intercepted.[4]

Areas of responsibility

ASIC's areas of responsibility include:

  • corporate governance
  • financial services
  • securities and derivatives
  • insurance
  • consumer protection
  • financial literacy.

ASIC's consumer website www.moneysmart.gov.au was launched on 15 March 2011. MoneySmart replaced ASIC's two previous consumer websites, FIDO and Understanding Money. MoneySmart aims to help people make good financial decisions by providing free, independent and unbiased information, tools and resources.

See also

References

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External links