ASIC to get extra funding for dispute resolution body

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will receive additional funding to ensure the new one-stop external dispute resolution body, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, delivers an effective service, and to further promote financial literacy.

The budget papers show ASIC will receive $4.3 million over four years for its work with AFCA, and $16 million over four years to promote financial literacy.

The AFCA cost to the budget will be offset by an increase in levies of $3.6 million over three years, from 2018-19, under ASIC’s Industry Funding Model. The cost of promoting financial literacy will be partially offset by an increase of $12 million over four years in the statutory levy amount received from entities ASIC regulates.

Charges recovered from ASIC-regulated entities will also offset an increase in funding to implement and monitor an extension of the Crowd-Sourced Equity Framework to proprietary companies. CSEF is an online fundraising mechanism that allows individuals to commit small sums to companies in return for equity.

The budget papers show that, in total, the government will recover about $113 million over the forward estimates from all entities ASIC regulates, through a statutory levy that takes effect from July 1 this year. The statutory levy will recover costs associated with:

• the promotion of financial literacy

• the administration of unclaimed money

• the operation of the North Queensland Insurance Aggregator 


• activities funded by ASIC’s Enforcement Special Account.

The budget papers state that, in line with a measure announced in 2016-17, this will ensure that all of ASIC’s regulatory costs are “recovered from those entities that create the need for regulation”.