ASIC updates guidance for licensees regarding reportable situations

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has made updates to Regulatory Guide 78, Breach reporting by AFS licensees and credit licensees (RG 78). This update helps clarify aspects of existing guidance as well as offer new guidance in response to operational issues encountered since the reportable situations regime came into effect. 

Suneeta Sidhu, Acting ASIC Executive Director, Financial Services and Wealth, said the newly released improved guidance will prove to be valuable for the industry.  

“Our focus is to improve consistency and quality of reporting practices by licensees and reduce regulatory burden where we can. The improved guidance will support industry to meet their obligations, and support the regime to meet its policy objectives for ASIC, industry and consumers,” she said. 

“We acknowledged early on that there were some implementation challenges with the regime. Our updated guidance has been developed following consultation with industry on practical solutions to some of these challenges.” 

The updates to RG 78 are as follows: 

• clarifying the circumstances in which licensees may group multiple reportable situations into one report to ASIC; 
• new guidance on the information to include when licensees describe a reportable situation; and 
• new guidance for licensees on ASIC’s expectations when licensees are providing updates related to a reported breach. 

These updates have taken place in response to direct feedback from industry and other relevant stakeholders that wanted clarification regarding requirements for licensees. The process included having consultation with various industry associations from the banking, insurance, superannuation, financial advisers, markets and credit sectors.  

Further to this, ASIC will also make some minor changes to the prescribed form used to lodge reportable situations. These changes are to come into effect on 5 May 2023, and are intended to help point licensees to relevant guidance available in RG 78.  

You can read more about ASIC’s update to RG 78 and what it means for licensees on the ASIC website.