The Guide to International Enforcement of the Securities Laws: Australia

This chapter was originally published in The Guide to International Enforcement of the Securities Laws (First Edition). 

The Guide to International Enforcement of the Securities Laws combines insights from pre-imminent practitioners from the world’s major securities markets to provide an overview of international securities regulatory regimes and enforcement programs. Corrs’ investigations team has authored the relevant Australian chapter.  

In Australia, since Commissioner Hayne found in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry that the use of negotiation and persuasion without enforcement “all too readily leads to the perception that compliance is voluntary”, there has been a marked uptick in enforcement by the regulators. 

Against this backdrop, over the past 18 to 24 months there has been an increase in cooperation between federal regulators, synchronising their investigations and, subject to statutory limitations coordinating the use of their information-gathering powers.

The Australian chapter seeks to address the following questions:

• What are the relevant statutes and which government authorities are responsible for investigating and enforcing them?
  
  
• What conduct is most commonly the subject of securities enforcement?
  
  
• What legal issues commonly arise in enforcement investigations?
  
  
• What remedies and sanctions are available to government authorities?

You can access a copy of The Guide to International Enforcement of the Securities Laws: Australia online, or click the ‘DOWNLOAD PDF’ button.

This chapter has been reproduced with the permission of Global Investigations Review. 

^{This article was originally co-authored by Felicity Healy.}