Australia’s regulatory crackdown targets bribery, money laundering and cybercrime

• misconduct involving superannuation and insurance;
• strengthening investigation and prosecution of insider trading;
• licensee failures to have adequate cybersecurity protections;
• misleading conduct involving ESG claims, including greenwashing; and
• auditor misconduct.

These readily flow from the enforcement and focus areas in 2024, with ASIC continuing to use its enforcement powers to regulate greenwashing issues in the financial sector. ASIC successfully pursued two civil penalty proceedings against two financial services providers for greenwashing in 2024, with AUS12.9 million and AUS11.3 million ordered in civil penalties by the Federal Court of Australia. It also made 47 regulatory interventions and issued over AUS123,000 in infringement notice payments during the 15-month period to June 30, 2024. The continued scrutiny of greenwashing claims going forward will require organizations to ensure they conduct their own diligence and investigations into whether such claims can be substantiated before a regulator does so. 

Though not yet confirmed, it is likely that ESG will remain one of the ACCC’s 2025-2026 priorities.

While we await AUSTRAC’s publication of its 2025 priorities, we expect that they will continue to focus on high-risk sectors including the banking, gambling, and remittance industries.

Predictions for 2025

In-house legal and investigation teams will need to ensure that they are compliant with the recent raft of legislative reform and stay on top of further reforms expected in the cybersecurity space, while continuing to manage increasing numbers of workplace misconduct investigations.