Insurers and brokers are reviewing draft Treasury regulations that impose levies to fund the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The regulations include insurance product distributors and risk management product providers, and recover ASIC costs through flat and variable levies.

“The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) and its members are examining the details of ASIC’s cost-recovery levy proposal to assess their impact on individual companies and the broader general insurance industry,” ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

National Insurance Brokers Association CEO Dallas Booth says further clarification will probably be needed on how the proposals affect brokers.

“We want to make sure it operates on a fair and equitable basis for our members, given the fact ASIC is not devoting significant resources to general insurance brokers,” he said. “We want to make sure we are not carrying a significant burden of this cost.”

Listed public companies will pay a minimum levy of $4000 if they have a market capitalisation below $5 million and $664,000 if they have market capitalisation above $20 billion, with graduated levies also part of the equation.

Insurance product providers subject to a graduated levy will pay a minimum of $20,000.

“Insurance product providers that have more than $5 million in insurance product revenue will also pay a variable amount depending on their share of the total insurance product revenue above the $5 million threshold for the financial year,” ASIC says in an explanatory statement.

Submissions on the draft regulations close on May 26.