The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has published its corporate plan for 2018 up until 2022 today. In the report, the regulator has highlighted cryptocurrencies as a potential threat to the financial markets.
The corporate plan outlines ASIC’s vision for the financial markets in Australia and details its strategic plan to achieve it. The key changes that the watchdog wants to implement in Australia is to change the behaviour around investments to produce better outcomes for investors, increase the integrity of the financial system, and promote development.
The report also outlines certain products and obstacles that ASIC believes could harm the industry. Specifically, the Australian regulator believes that the growing digital environment and structural changes to the financial services market have the potential to negatively impact the industry.
Because of this, the watchdog said that it will continue to focus on monitoring threats from emerging products such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrencies. In order to combat this, the regulator will continue to develop its approach for regulating the market and crypto exchanges.
It will also continue to monitor emerging products, such as ICOs, and continue to intervene when necessary to protect consumers. To achieve this, the regulator has formed internal cross-team working groups to coordinate the implementation of new supervisory approaches.
ASIC aims to improve the integrity of the financial system
In the report, ASIC also focuses on improving the behaviour of financial firms. The securities regulator plans to do this by monitoring the adoption of standards of the FX Code of Conduct and the Banking Code of Practice.
Commenting on the report, ASIC Chair James Shipton said: “ASIC expects financial sector firms to adopt a culture of professionalism from the very top of the organisation right through to the frontline in order to win back community trust. Equally, it is important for ASIC to demonstrate professional values and to be held to account.”
