Mandatory Self-Reporting of Contraventions by Credit Licensees Likely to be Introduced

One of the recommendations of the ASIC enforcement review taskforce was that the mandatory self-reporting regime should be extended to impose the same obligations upon credit licensees. This recommendation is in contrast to the original regulatory intention that regulation of credit should have a lighter touch than regulation of financial service providers '€“ how times change and how easy it is to forget the original intentions! Currently, when there has been a breach of applicable laws, credit licensees are required to record that breach in a breach register but are not required to then report the breach to ASIC, other than noting same when lodging the annual compliance statement. Extension of mandatory breach self-reporting regime to credit licensees will lead to a major shakeup of the industry. For example, brokers dismissed from aggregator panels might well find themselves being the subject of a breach report lodged with ASIC. It will also lead to enhanced compliance procedures at the offices of each credit licensee.