Greater Powers to the Corporate Regulator to Pursue Market Misconduct
28 January 2010
The Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law today announced proposed changes to the law to strengthen the Australian Securities and Investment Commission's investigative powers and increase penalties for market related offences.
The proposals will increase the maximum criminal penalties that can be imposed when individuals and corporations breach market misconduct provisions.
The changes will increase the pecuniary penalties for individuals to $500,000 or three times the profit made or loss avoided, whichever is greater. For corporations, the penalty will be the greater of $5,000,000, three times the profit made or loss avoided, or 10 per cent of the corporation's annual turnover during the period the breach occurred.
To ensure compliance and increase deterrence, the maximum term of imprisonment for these offences will be increased from five years to 10 years.
As part of the proposals, ASIC will be able to access telecommunications interception material collected by the Australian Federal Police under a court-issued warrant. ASIC's search warrant powers will also be improved to dispense with the need to issue a notice to produce before a warrant is enforced.
The Government will release an exposure draft of the proposed changes later this year.
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