A new Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) report gives some insight into how the financial services regulator applies its policies in practice.

The updated report – which is part of a series aimed at making ASIC’s decisions transparent – details when the regulator has exercised, or refused to exercise, its discretion to grant relief to financial services providers from certain provisions of the Corporations Act.

It reveals ASIC granted relief to 791 applications in areas including licensing, disclosure, managed investments and conduct, and refused relief to another 124 applications.

ASIC Director Regulation John Price says the reports will be published regularly “to make our decision transparent and to provide some insight into the factors we may take into account in deciding whether or not to exercise our discretion to grant relief”.