Treasury has released a discussion paper as part of its ongoing review of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) industry funding model.

Several of the 31 questions posed in the paper address a number of cost-related concerns that the industry has raised in the past, since the scheme commenced in 2017 to support ASIC’s supervision of the financial services sector.

These include questions in relation to costs associated with enforcement activity, specifically how they can be recovered “most equitably” and what changes could be made to the current approach.

Other questions of particular industry significance relate to formulas used for determining individual sector levies, the Cost Recovery Implementation Scheme (CRIS), ASIC’s cost allocation methodology and transparency.

“The purpose of the review is to identify any refinements to the [industry funding model] that may be required to ensure its settings remain appropriate in the longer-term,” the discussion paper says.

“Governments’ long-standing position is that cost recovery fees and levies attributable to regulated activity are considered as a funding mechanism prior to budget funding.”

The paper says any “significant deviations” would raise concerns about equity and fairness, and would not be aligned with the Government’s priority for responsible budget repair.

“The Government is committed to maintaining appropriate industry funding arrangements for ASIC,” the paper says.

Treasury started the review last month, a first such examination of the industry funding model since it commenced five years ago.

Closing date for submissions is October 28.

Click here for the discussion paper.