The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reminded industry players they must report significant breaches of their obligations under the FSRA, even if some of these obligations are the subject of the Government’s financial services reform (FSR) refinements.

The regulator used the start date of the Super Choice regime last week to push the message, saying it is keen to clarify its position on breaches.

Executive Director of Compliance Jennifer O’Donnell says there has been confusion in some sectors of the industry about ASIC’s compliance approach during the implementation of the refinements.

Basically ASIC wants to know about any breaches, even if they won’t be regarded as breaches when the refinements are finalised. And Ms O’Donnell says the regulator probably won’t take action for breaches that are the subject of a refinement where “that conduct is more likely than not to be lawful if the refinement proposal became law”.

“However, we still expect that while the FSR proposals are under consideration, any significant breaches of the existing law will be reported to us under the breach-reporting provisions of the Corporations Act,” she said.