In Report 391: ASIC’s deregulatory initiatives, released yesterday, ASIC said the deregulation team was working closely with Treasury, the Office of Best Practice Regulation and the government to “identify and cut red tape”.
The corporate regulator is seeking feedback on possible changes that might be made to ASIC forms, suggestions for regulatory change that might be discussed with Treasury and government, and any other changes that might be made to ASIC processes or procedures.
As for new initiatives to cut red tape, the report said ASIC has recently identified and catalogued the 362 forms that it receives.
“The 362 forms that comprise the data catalogue were examined to identify opportunities for reducing the regulatory burden on stakeholders,” said the report.
“Forms were examined to ascertain whether they could be either removed if the information was not required or used regularly by ASIC or the public, or consolidated or streamlined to lessen the burden on business of providing this information to ASIC,” it said.
“Our preliminary analysis has identified that approximately 10 per cent of forms could be removed, consolidated or streamlined,” said ASIC.
The corporate regulator is also looking to remove barriers that currently “inhibit innovation in disclosure” – particularly when it comes to electronic disclosure.
“We are currently undertaking targeted consultation with market participants to identify where the barriers lie to increased electronic disclosure, with a view to removing those barriers and facilitating more electronic disclosure where possible,” said ASIC.
The regulator also pointed to its ongoing efforts to provide class order relief from the law where there is a “net regulatory benefit” to doing so.
The corporate regulator also pointed to its update of the Australian Financial Services Licence application process, and the “simplification” of ASIC’s business names register.
The report also stated that ASIC is looking to provide greater transparency to the financial services industry about the work it is undertaking to ensure a ‘no surprises’ approach to regulation.
“Engagement with industry through, for example, publishing a strategic outlook covering the risks consumers, markets and market participants face, and what regulatory responses we intend to pursue to address these, can help businesses understand our key priorities and reduce uncertainty that regulatory and other change can bring,” said the report.
