Australian Securities and Investments Commission
ASIC
1 July 1998 – present
Previously Australian Securities Commission (1991–1998).
Australia's corporate, markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator, which registers companies, licenses financial service providers, supervises financial markets and enforces corporations and financial services laws.
Names over time
- Australian Securities Commission1991–1998
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission1998–present
How it came into existence
Created on 1 July 1998 when the Australian Securities Commission was renamed under the Financial Sector Reform (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 1998 and given consumer protection responsibilities for insurance, superannuation and deposit-taking, transferred from the Insurance and Superannuation Commission.
- Corporate and securities regulation
Legislation: Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001
Changes during its life
- 15 July 2001The Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 replaced the 1989 Act after the states referred corporations power to the Commonwealth.
- 1 July 2010Became the national regulator of consumer credit under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, taking over from state and territory regulators.
- 1 August 2010Took over supervision of trading on Australia's domestic licensed financial markets from the market operators.
- Consumer protection for insurance and superannuation
Main functions
- Company registration and public registers
- Licensing and regulation of financial services providers
- Supervision of financial markets
- Regulation of consumer credit
- Financial consumer protection
- Enforcement of corporations and financial services law
Where it sits
In the portfolio of Department of the Treasury.
- Type of body
- Non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- Portfolio
- Treasury
- Accountable authority
- Chairperson – Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 section 9A(b)
- ABN
- 86 768 265 615
Lineage
Loading lineage…
Sources
Primary sources
- List of Commonwealth entities and companies under the PGPA Act, 1 July 2026 (Department of Finance) (as Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC))
- Australian Government Organisations Register (Department of Finance, data.gov.au) (listed from 11 December 2014 to the latest release (30 June 2026))