A snapshot of ASIC’s surveillance work has been published for the first time, as part of its commitment to improving transparency and increasing the public’s understanding of how ASIC operates.

An updated Service Charter outlining the level of performance people can expect to receive, has also been released.

ASIC Chairman, Mr Greg Medcraft said the updated Service Charter sets out the standards of service expected for the most common types of interaction between ASIC and the public, such as complaints, requests and applications.

The surveillance chart for the 2011-12 financial year shows how often ASIC proactively analyses its regulated populations through both on-site visits and desk-based reviews that last for more than two days.

‘ASIC has a variety of tools at our disposal: engagement, surveillance, education, guidance, enforcement and policy advice to Government. This chart summarises our work using surveillances and shows how ASIC verifies that gatekeepers of the financial system are complying with their obligations’, Mr Medcraft said.

The surveillance chart shows the work each team undertakes and the population (by number) they regulate. It maps out the number of years it would theoretically take to conduct a surveillance on every member of the population. The priorities and objectives for each team are also included.

To take a few examples: ASIC’s Insolvency Practitioners team undertakes a surveillance of Australia’s 670 registered liquidators every four years on average. ASIC’s Investment Banks team undertakes a surveillance of 25 investment banks every 1.3 years on average and 220 hedge funds investment managers/responsible entities every 6.6 years on average. Forty-four retail OTC derivative providers and six credit rating agencies are the subject of a surveillance every year.

‘ASIC takes a risk-based approach to surveillance, identifying significant and strategically important gatekeepers within the financial system to analyse. Holding gatekeepers to account is an important part of how ASIC achieves its priorities to ensure investors and financial consumers are confident and informed, and markets are fair and efficient’, Mr Medcraft said.

The staff numbers shown account for all full-time equivalent positions in each team, (some of whom are not engaged in surveillance work) and represent a portion of ASIC’s 1800-plus full-time and part-time staff.

ASIC intends to release an annual summary of its surveillance work in its Annual Report.

The release of this surveillance data follows the publication of ASIC’s first Enforcement Report in March this year, detailing ASIC enforcement actions between July and December 2011. A second Enforcement Report covering January – June 2012 was has been recently published.

 

More information is here.