Understanding ASIC’s Enforcement Priorities 2026

Authored by Kush Goyal

In 2025 ASIC doubled the number of new investigations and almost doubled the number of new matters in court. New chair Sarah Court introduced ASIC’s 2026 priorities, making clear that they are set with the increased costs of living faced by many Australians in mind.

Continuing Priorities

Misleading Pricing Practices 

As part of the push to alleviate cost of living issues, ASIC is looking to go after misleading pricing practices that impact the cost of living for Australians. Organisations will need to ensure that pricing information is clearly visible and communicated. In 2023, an insurance company was ordered to pay $10 million for failing to disclose certain discounts on offer when sending out documents to customers. ASIC is likely to prioritise investigating similar conduct in the next year, across all sectors.

Poor Private Credit Practices

ASIC’s 2025 report entitled ‘Private Credit Surveillance: Retail and Wholesale Funds’ found that 70% of loans outstanding in Australia today are owed to private credit sources as opposed to traditional financing. Given the large market share now taken by private credit, ASIC is attempting to ensure that misconduct is quickly stamped out to, as Court states, ‘support confident and informed participation, investor protection and market integrity’.

Misconduct Exploiting Customers Facing Financial Difficulty

ASIC is focusing on ‘predatory credit practices’. In an address at Credit Law 2025, commissioner Alan Kirkland urged lenders to act responsibly in assessing customers’ circumstances, needs and objectives, and ‘not put[ting] them at foreseeable risk of financial hardship’.

Claims and Complaint Handling Failures by Insurers

Another priority born from the rising cost of living, ASIC is broadly attempting to cut down on claims and complaints being dragged on for years without customer vindication. They have already been active in this area; in April 2025, ASIC began proceedings against an insurance company for their handling of a 2021 home building and contents claim that took nearly 3 and a half years to resolve.

Unlawful Practices Seeking to Evade Small Business Creditors

Sarah Court has acknowledged that small businesses are the ‘lifeblood of the economy’, stating that small businesses, superannuation members and market integrity remain ‘front and centre’. ASIC has announced the creation of two additional enforcement teams to investigate and bring proceedings against directors and companies failing to pay bills owed to small businesses.

Auditor Misconduct

Auditor misconduct is again an enforcement priority for ASIC in 2026. Auditors have found themselves engaged in investigations or proceedings against ASIC for negligence, failure to identify fraud or errors, conflicts of interest, or inaccuracy in reporting.

New Priorities

Financial Reporting Misconduct

In December 2025, ASIC issued over $2.2 million in infringement notices to 12 companies for allegedly failing to lodge financial reports on time. Expect to see more investigations in the upcoming year. Court emphasised that entities with unlisted assets, such as super funds and private credit funds, are playing a bigger role in the economy, and reliable information about them is of increasing importance.

Continuing to Hold Those Responsible for the Collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds to Account

After the disastrous collapse of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds in 2025, ASIC began investigations and proceedings against various actors that were involved. So far, ASIC has 12 different court cases underway in relation to the matter, and they have indicated that there will likely be more. ASIC’s focus on the superannuation industry has been complimented by increased APRA scrutiny and revisions to Prudential Standards focusing on superannuation sector.

Along with their new priorities for 2026, ASIC’s ‘enduring priorities’ remain. The regulator continues to target:

• Misconduct damaging market integrity

• Misconduct impacting First Nations people

• Misconduct involving a high risk of significant consumer harm

• Systemic compliance failures by large financial institutions

• New or emerging conduct risks within the financial system

• Governance and directors’ duties failures

It is imperative to assess your business operations against ASIC’s enforcement priorities to minimise risk. To learn more, please contact Tim Bednall, Director of Owl Advisory by KWM.

This publication is a joint publication from King & Wood Mallesons, and KWM Compliance Pty Ltd (ACN 672 547 027) trading as Owl Advisory by KWM.   KWM Compliance Pty Ltd is a company wholly owned by the King & Wood Mallesons Australian partnership.  KWM Compliance Pty Ltd provides non-legal compliance and governance risk advisory services for businesses.  KWM Compliance Pty Ltd is not an incorporated legal practice and does not provide legal services. Laws concerning the provision of legal services do not apply to KWM Compliance Pty Ltd.