The ‘existential’ threat facing the corporate watchdog
Joe Longo has overseen a transformation in his three and a half years as chair of ASIC, but one risk still remains which is “existential” for the corporate watchdog.
The former lawyer is determined to make corporate Australia fix systemic underfunding and archaic processes behind a slew of high-profile customer service failures, such as superannuation giant Cbus’s delays in paying out death and disability claims.
But Mr Longo realises the watchdog itself has failed to evolve in time to deal with a deluge of data needed to hold companies to account.
“The issue there, I’ll be quite frank with you, is existential,” he told AAP.
The business environment is a great deal more complex today than when Mr Longo worked as a corporate defender for the likes of Deutsche Bank and the late Perth plutocrat Alan Bond in the ’90s and noughts.
While the poacher turned gamekeeper is proud of his record in clamping down on corporations – ASIC brought 138 successful summary prosecutions in the second half of 2024, up 33 per cent on the previous year – he understands the challenges they face.
Regulatory frameworks have become increasingly labyrinthian to navigate, not to mention cybersecurity challenges, mandatory climate disclosure, and the proliferation of data and AI.
As a result, being a company director can feel like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill, Mr Longo said in a speech in March 2024.
The challenge is the same for those holding them to account.
“The modern regulator, to be effective, has got to have a grip on technology and data,” he said.
“We don’t have the right tools to do that. Over time, our effectiveness as a regulator will be undermined.”
ASIC is already copping plenty of criticism.
A parliamentary inquiry in 2024 recommended the watchdog be split into two bodies, describing a bloated and under-resourced regulator that took no action on the majority of complaints that came across its desk.
“Many of those findings, we reject,” Mr Longo said.
“We’re not a complaints-handling authority. We get between 10-15,000 reports of misconduct a year but we’re only resourced to investigate about 200 or 150 matters a year.”
Despite the progress ASIC has made since his arrival, a great deal more funding is required to bring its systems up to speed, Mr Longo said.
Big cases require a lot of data and a lot of technology, like ASIC’s upcoming trial against the directors of Star Casino for failing to prevent money laundering or its proceedings against Cbus.
Ensuring the super funds meet their obligations to members is one of ASIC’s key priorities for 2025.
In the three decades since compulsory super began in Australia, the funds have become very effective at accumulating customers’ wealth.
But they are woefully unprepared for the decumulation phase as more Australians enter retirement.
“There’s a systemic issue and it comes back to the technology point,” Mr Longo said.
“It’s time to deliver. Millions of Australians are transitioning into retirement.”
The same issue has afflicted the insurance sector.
Companies’ underlying systems aren’t robust enough to capture data effectively and deliver what they’ve promised to policyholders.
“These issues can’t be fixed overnight. They require very significant investment but we have to make that investment,” he said.
ASIC’s job would also be made easier if Australia’s legal framework wasn’t so complex.
Not only does excessive red tape make it harder for businesses operating in good faith to comply with the law and for regulators to police them, it stifles productivity, innovation and growth.
“We’ve reached a point now in Australia where we just celebrate complexity,” Mr Longo said.
“With all of our well-intentioned policy decisions that then become law, we now have a very complex regulatory framework that’s hard to understand.
“Grappling with complexity is really beginning to worry a lot of people and and I think it behoves ASIC to engage and respond to that.”
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