“It is absolutely mission critical that Australian financial institutions pay close attention to their obligations under ASIC and APRA, and Ascent’s AI-driven approach can play a key role in protecting firms from risk and reputational damage.” —Jeff Heine, Chief Revenue Officer, Ascent
Ascent announced today the addition of major new regulators — the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) — to its AI-driven compliance platform. Specifically, the update includes a significant number of acts under ASIC and APRA that are most relevant for banks and securities firms operating in Australia.
Using proprietary RegulationAI™, Ascent dynamically generates the regulatory obligations and ongoing rule updates that apply to the customer, saving businesses significant time and money in analysing regulation manually. This intelligent Obligations Register is unique to every customer. Also included are the regulatory rulebooks and other documents including press releases, guidance notes, enforcement actions and more.
Recent legislation such as the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) in Australia and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) in the UK seek greater accountability from individuals and executives. In this climate of mounting pressure, Ascent helps customers gain confidence in their compliance programs.
Among the key additions to Ascent being announced today are:
1. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
ASIC is Australia’s integrated corporate, markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator. It is an independent Commonwealth Government body established by and tasked with administering the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act). ASIC regulates Australian companies, financial markets, financial services organizations and professionals who deal and advise in investments, superannuation, insurance, deposit taking and credit. All of the following are now supported in Ascent:
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act)
- Business Names Registration Act 2011
- Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act)
- Insurance Contracts Act 1984
- National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (National Credit Act)
- Banking Act 1959
- Life Insurance Act 1995
- Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997
- Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act)
2. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
APRA develops and enforces prudential regulation of Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs), general insurance companies and superannuation funds in order to ensure the stability, safety, efficiency, competition and contestability of the financial system. Ascent has now added the most crucial acts under APRA’s purview impacting financial institutions, including:
- Banking Act 1959
- Banking Regulations 2016
- Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001
- Insurance Act 1973
- Life Insurance Regulations
- Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994
- Retirement Savings Accounts Regulations 1997
- Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR); and more.
“We are continually monitoring the global regulatory landscape and have witnessed increasingly strong demand for RegTech in the Australian market,” said Jeff Heine, Chief Revenue Officer with Ascent. “We are very pleased to make these updates to our offering. It is absolutely mission critical that Australian financial institutions pay close attention to their obligations under ASIC and APRA, and Ascent’s AI-driven approach can play a key role in protecting firms from risk and reputational damage. And it’s not only firm-level risk that needs to be accounted for; executives must now be cognizant of their personal liability for compliance failures as well due to BEAR and similar legislation around the world.”
Ascent is continually expanding its regulatory coverage in order to better serve its customers worldwide.
