On 9 June 2026 ASIC updated its Regulatory Guide 234 Advertising financial products and services (including credit) (RG 234) to help industry comply with legal obligations and avoid misleading consumers.

It has also separately outlined its transitional approach to the enforcement of a new ban on any advertising of superannuation funds occurring during the employee onboarding process, set to commence on 1 July 2026.

ASIC has updated its guidance in RG 234:
* to cover intermediaries, including lead generators;
* to include clarification that the law and ASIC’s guidance also apply to AI-generated advertising; and discussion about disclosing the features, benefits and risks or limitations of using customer tools and tool capability, including AI-enabled tools;
* on how intermediaries should reflect features, fees and costs of third-party products and services in their advertising;
* on endorsements, including the use of branding and logos;
* to include further information about the use of click through links and QR codes in different advertising mediums, including where there are physical limitations;
* to refer to streamed and digital audio platforms; search engine advertising; and in-app advertising (e.g. banking apps).

ASIC has also:
* added Example 12, which sets out ASIC’s action against misleading greenwashing claims;
* expanded on its guidance to distinguish between warnings required by law and general disclaimers on headline claims;
* added examples of fees that should be included where they are referred to in an advertisement:
* added a clarification that when looking at performance periods of less than five years, the performance period used in the comparison should be the same or similar to that of the advertised product, subject to the other principles for comparisons.;
* provided further guidance on considerations for outdoor advertising;
* added additional commentary on the characteristics of ‘ordinary and reasonable persons’ when assessing the impact of advertisements.

RG 234 now also consolidates guidance from Regulatory Guide 53 The use of past performance in promotional material (RG 53) so that all advertising guidance is in one place. As a result, RG 53 has now been withdrawn.

ASIC says there is no applicable transition period following the release of the updated RG 234.

It also says that further updates to RG 234 may be needed in the future to cover high-risk superannuation switching.

Superannuation issues

ASIC has outlined its transitional approach to the enforcement of a new ban on any advertising of superannuation funds occurring during the employee onboarding process, set to commence on 1 July 2026.

The ban, which does not apply to general advertising to the public, aims to protect employees from being influenced to make uninformed decisions, which may include opening inappropriate products or unintentionally creating duplicate superannuation accounts.

MySuper products that meet the legislated criteria, employer default funds, and an employee’s stapled fund are exempt from the ban.

ASIC acknowledges it will take time for entities to build the capabilities needed to meet these new requirements. As such, for a period of 12 months from 1 July 2026, ASIC will take a balanced approach to the ban on advertising.

Any enforcement action will likely be directed at misconduct that is serious or reckless in nature and not where entities are making honest attempts to comply with the new requirements.

The changes to the Corporations Act 2001 are implemented by provisions under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Act 2026. The Act also allows for regulations to provide greater details on the conditions and disclosures required.

ASIC intends to provide updated guidance once any regulations have been made.

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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.

Treasury has released for consultation draft codes and rules under the Scams Prevention Framework (SPF). Background.

The Codes establish 4 distinct categories of provisions:

* common provisions that apply across the banking, telecommunications, and digital platforms sectors;
* provisions that apply only to the banking sector;
* provisions that apply only to the telecommunications sector; and
* provisions that apply only to the digital platforms sector.

Compliance with these code obligations is the primary factor when considering
whether a regulated entity has taken reasonable steps for the purposes of the corresponding SPF principles of prevent, detect and disrupt in Division 2 of Part IVF of the Competition and Consumer Act.

The draft Codes set out:
Governance requirements;
Prevention requirements;
Detection requirements;
Reporting requirements;
Disruption requirements;
Response requirements; and
Internal dispute resolution rules.

The draft rules specify that a person is not an SPF consumer of a covered banking service where they do not have a direct relationship with the regulated entity providing the service (the bank), or they are not making a payment to, or receiving a payment from, the bank. This exception is intended to ensure that business-to-business banking services, such as those providing back-end payment infrastructure, are not captured by the banking designation.

The draft Internal Dispute Resolution rules provide for automatic reimbursement of scam victims for verified scam losses below $3,000.

While Ministerial Guidance will make it clear that entities should reimburse consumers for scam losses under $3,000, entities will be liable for losses where they have breached their obligations under the SPF for all values of scam losses.

The draft states that where more than one regulated entity has breached its obligations under the SPF, liability should be shared equally between those breaching entities.

While entities will be required to coordinate their response to the consumer, each entity will be responsible for directly reimbursing consumers for any losses the entity is liable for.

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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have announced that they will streamline aspects of the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) to reduce regulatory burden without lowering accountability standards.

APRA and ASIC say they will remove key functions requirements from the FAR regulator rules; raise the materiality threshold for notifying APRA and ASIC of changes in accountability; and no longer require information on accountable persons’ direct reports in accountability maps.

ASIC will streamline the responsible manager Australian financial services licensing requirements for FAR entities by reducing the requirements to submit evidence of competence from October 2026.

APRA and ASIC will consult on the changes and aim to implement them by the end of 2026.

APRA has also commenced consultation on an updated draft of CPS 510 Governance, which removes duplicated fit and proper reporting now that Financial Accountability Regime reporting is in place.

The new CPS 510 is designed to:
• strengthen requirements for board governance, conflicts management and the fitness and propriety of directors and executives;
• improve flexibility by enabling boards to delegate APRA’s board requirements in other prudential standards, and by aligning governance requirements with other codes and regimes where appropriate; and
• harmonise requirements by combining five existing prudential standards into one and setting consistent governance minimums for all APRA-regulated entities.

Draft CPS 510 includes a 12-year tenure limit for non-executive directors.

For clarity, tenure includes:
* total time irrespective of whether this has been served in consecutive appointment terms;
* the time an alternate director acts in the capacity as a non-executive director;5 and
* any tenure as a director on a predecessor entity in the event of a merger or transfer.

APRA’s proposal outlines that a Board may approve an extension in each individual circumstance of up to an additional 12 months. APRA proposes that an entity must notify APRA of an extension within 10 days of board approval.

The new standard will be finalised later in 2026 and come into effect in January 2028.

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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.

The government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 into the House of Representatives.

The Bill proposes amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and other legislation to strengthen the Director Identification Number (DIN) regime and link it to ASIC’s Companies Register.

If passed, the Bill will link the DIN to ASIC’s publicly available Companies Register. Companies will be required to provide each director’s DIN to ASIC as part of standard corporate registration and reporting practices, including applications for registration, notification of changes and annual reporting.

The Bill also allows directors to provide an alternative address in place of their usual residential address on ASIC documentation.

If you found this article helpful, then subscribe to our news emails to keep up to date and look at our video courses for in-depth training. Use the search box at the top right of this page or the categories list on the right hand side of this page to check for other articles on the same or related matters.

Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.

ASIC has updated Information Sheet 294 FAQs: AFS licence applications (INFO 294) to include a new requirement for AFS licensees to submit and maintain their official website URL so it is published on ASIC registers.

AFS licensee website addresses will be published on the ASIC Professional Registers Search from June 2026.

Listing website addresses will enable consumers and businesses to check that they are dealing with genuine AFS licensee websites and combat impersonation scams where criminals copy the name and licence details of AFS licensees to create fake websites.

ASIC has begun to collect AFS licensee website addresses for all existing AFS licensees via the Regulatory Portal on a voluntary basis.

If an AFS licensee provides ASIC with its website addresses (or confirms that it does not operate a website) then they must keep those details up to date. For example, an AFS licensee must inform ASIC, in relation to the websites used to carry on its financial services business, when it starts operating a website, stops using a website address it previously listed, or changes its principal website address.

ASIC has also updated the following information sheets to clarify the scope of permitted activities, advice conduct and disclosure obligations, and ongoing financial and reporting requirements:

* INFO 227 What can limited AFS licensees do?

* INFO 228 Limited AFS licensees: Advice conduct and disclosure obligations

* INFO 229 Limited AFS licensees: Complying with your licensing obligations

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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.

The ASIC Credit (Amendment) Instrument 2026/64 has extended mandatory credit reporting relief for credit providers.

The mandatory credit reporting regime under the National Credit Act requires credit providers to supply mandatory credit information to credit reporting bodies, including financial hardship information about an individual.

Instrument 2021/541 determined five kinds of account as not being eligible credit accounts for reporting purposes.

The Amending Instrument adds accounts created solely for testing new products as a sixth category of account that is exempted from reporting, provided:
(a) the account is not offered or made available to the general public; and
(b) the account is only offered to individuals involved in the testing the product with the credit provider; and
(c) the account is one of no more than 250 accounts created as part of the product testing; and
(d) the term of the account is for a period of no more than 6 months.

The relief will sunset on 1 October 2031.

If you found this article helpful, then subscribe to our news emails to keep up to date and look at our video courses for in-depth training. Use the search box at the top right of this page or the categories list on the right hand side of this page to check for other articles on the same or related matters.

Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
Email: djacobson@brightlaw.com.au
About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.