ASIC Enforcement Wrap: June 2026

Key May Takeaways:

• ASIC continues focus on consumer protection, securing $59.5 million in civil penalties, including a record $33.5 million penalty against Snaffle for unlawfully overcharging vulnerable consumers under more than 38,000 credit contracts.
• Trustees, lenders and superannuation providers remain under intense regulatory scrutiny, with proceedings against Equity Trustees, penalties against Westpac for hardship failures, and findings against Telstra Super for deficient complaint handling.
• ASIC maintained a strong enforcement approach across both civil and criminal matters, pursuing appeals in significant cases, obtaining prison sentences for financial misconduct, and continuing to remove unsuitable participants from the financial services industry through bans, licence cancellations and director disqualifications.

Spotlight – Walker Stores Pty Ltd to pay $33.5 million penalty for breaches of Australian consumer laws

The Federal Court has imposed a $33.5 million penalty on Walker Stores Pty Ltd, the operator of the online retailer Snaffle, after finding that the company engaged in widespread breaches of Australia’s consumer credit laws. The proceedings were brought by ASIC, which alleged that Snaffle’s business model resulted in consumers being unlawfully overcharged under more than 38,000 credit contracts entered into between September 2021 and February 2025. The Court found that Snaffle incorrectly calculated interest by applying it to the full contract amount throughout the life of the loan instead of the unpaid balance as required by law. As a result, consumers paid almost $20 million in excess interest.

The Court also found that some of Snaffle’s contracts breached the statutory annual cost rate cap of 48%, with effective rates ranging from 88% to 103%. In addition, ASIC successfully argued that Snaffle inflated the prices of goods before financing them, resulting in consumers paying substantially more than the underlying retail value of products. These pricing practices significantly increased the total amount on which interest was charged.

In determining the penalty, the Court emphasised the scale and seriousness of the misconduct, noting that many affected consumers were financially vulnerable and relied on Centrelink payments as their primary source of income. ASIC described the conduct as exploitative and argued that businesses must not design products or corporate structures in a way that circumvents important consumer credit protections. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court stated that the outcome sends a clear message that credit providers must comply with the law when offering finance products and that ASIC will continue to take strong enforcement action where consumers are unlawfully overcharged.

In addition to the pecuniary penalty, Walker Stores was ordered to publish notices informing consumers of its misconduct and to pay ASIC’s legal costs. The decision highlights the regulator’s focus on protecting financially vulnerable consumers from unlawful lending practices.

May in Summary – Enforcement Actions and Outcomes

Civil Action

Civil Proceedings

ASIC has commenced Federal Court proceedings against Equity Trustees, alleging it failed to conduct adequate due diligence before allowing members of the NQ Super & Pension fund to invest in the now-collapsed First Guardian Master Fund. ASIC claims Equity Trustees failed to obtain critical documents, including First Guardian’s constitution, audited financial statements and compliance plan audit, before approving it as an investment option. ASIC also alleges the trustee allowed members to invest 100% of their superannuation into First Guardian despite signs the fund may have been illiquid. Around 2,700 members reportedly invested more than $65 million between June 2023 and March 2024 in the First Guadian Master Fund. ASIC is seeking compensation for affected members, civil penalties and court declarations. Equity Trustees has stated it intends to defend the proceedings, arguing the losses primarily arose from alleged fraud by those operating First Guardian. The case forms part of ASIC’s broader investigation into the collapse of First Guardian and Shield, which together involved about $1.1 billion of investor funds.

Civil Penalties

The Federal Court ordered $59.5 million in civil penalties against two companies:

• The Federal Court has ordered a $33.5 million penalty against Walker Stores Pty Ltd, the operator of the online retailer Snaffle, for unlawfully overcharging consumers under more than 38,000 credit contracts. As noted above, the Court found that between 2021 and 2025, Snaffle incorrectly calculated interest by applying it to the full contract amount rather than the reducing unpaid balance, causing consumers to pay almost $20 million in excess interest. 
• The Federal Court has ordered Westpac to pay $26 million in civil penalties after finding it failed to respond to more than 200 customer hardship requests within legally required timeframes between 2017 and 2023. The affected customers, including clients of Westpac, St George, Bank SA and Bank of Melbourne, had sought assistance because they were experiencing financial hardship arising from issues such as illness, job loss, domestic abuse and natural disasters. Justice McEvoy described the conduct as “grossly negligent”, finding that inadequate systems and operational failures caused vulnerable customers to miss out on protections and, in some cases, face unnecessary enforcement action. Westpac has apologised, completed a remediation program involving refunds and debt waivers, and says it has strengthened its hardship processes and systems.

Civil Judgments

The Federal Court handed down judgment in one case:

• The Federal Court found Telstra Super, now known as Tetra Servicing Pty Ltd, breached mandatory internal dispute resolution obligations by failing to respond to many member complaints within the required 45-day timeframe. Between October 2021 and January 2023, about one-third of complaints were handled late, with some responses delayed by more than 100 days. The Court also found the fund failed to properly explain delays or advise members of their right to escalate complaints to AFCA.

Civil Appeals

ASIC has appealed two Federal Court decisions:

• ASIC has appealed a Federal Court decision imposing a combined $7 million penalty on Cigno Australia, BSF Solutions and their directors, arguing the amount is too low to deter future misconduct. The companies were found to have provided credit without a licence and charged consumers unlawful fees, generating over $90 million in revenue. ASIC says affected consumers were denied important legal protections and have not been compensated. The appeal also seeks clarification on whether legal advice untendered to the court can reduce the contravener’s penalties, and whether penalties should be based on gross revenue (as argued by ASIC) rather than profit (as held by the primary judge).
• ASIC has appealed a Federal Court decision that dismissed its case against Nuix concerning alleged continuous disclosure breaches and misleading statements following the company’s 2020 Initial Public Offering. ASIC argues the Court erred in finding that Nuix had reasonable grounds to maintain its 2021 revenue forecasts and that investors were not misled. The original case focused on whether Nuix should have disclosed weaker-than-expected sales indicators before reaffirming earnings guidance in early 2021. The regulator is not appealing the Court’s decision in relation to the company’s directors. ASIC says the appeal raises important issues about continuous disclosure obligations and the standards listed companies must meet when communicating financial forecasts to investors.

Criminal Action

Guilty Pleas

One individual pleaded guilty to criminal charges:

• Stavro D’Amore pleads guilty to dishonest conduct and to misusing $700,000 in company funds. The former director of Bernal Capital Securities Pty Ltd, a collapsed retail over the counter derivatives provider has pleaded guilty to three rolled up chargers including dishonestly using his position as a director, dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business and authorising the making of false and misleading statements in a document submitted to ASIC. These charges include the illegal transfer of $681,496.98 in company funds primarily derived from retail client deposits between 2017 and 2018, with former Berndale clients currently owed in excess of $8.9 million. The matter is listed for a sentencing hearing on 2 July 2026.

Sentencing

Four individuals were sentenced in criminal matters:

• The District Court of NSW has sentenced Mark Barnes to one year and ten months imprisonment for dishonestly obtaining $2.4 million from falsified invoices. The former director of Barnes Marketing Services Pty Ltd (in liquidation) will be served by way of Intensive Correction Order (ICO), with one year of home detention. From 28 May 2018 to 20 December 2019, Mr Barnes sold false invoices from Barnes Marketing Services to the financial funding company Handley Advisory Partners Pty Ltd, which trades under the name FIFO Capital Metro NSW (FIFO). Judge C O’Brien characterised Mr Barnes’s offending as sophisticated, with imprisonment being the only appropriate sentence. Mr Barnes’s conviction means that he will be disqualified from managing companies for five years until 1 April 2031.  
• Ashley Arandez has been sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment by the County Court of Victoria. Mr Arandez pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed financial services business, dishonest conduct, and recklessly dealing with the proceedings of crime. The former financial services director recommended clients to invest funds from their self-managed super funds into investment products controlled by him, promising high fixed interest returns. Mr Arandez used some of these funds to purchase a property, a motorhome, and other personal expenses.  The returns promised to his clients went mostly unfulfilled. Mr Arandez is automatically disqualified from managing corporations as a result of his conviction. This disqualification will be lifted five years after his release from prison. 
• Former fund manager Rodney Forrest has been re-sentenced to five years and three months’ imprisonment after successfully appealing an earlier six-year jail term for insider trading and procuring others to trade Platinum Asset Management shares. The Full Federal Court found that the original sentence did not adequately account for Forrest’s early guilty plea and cooperation, reducing the sentence by nine months while retaining a three-year non-parole period. 

Administrative Action

Bans

One individual was banned by ASIC from providing financial services:

• Trent Simon Giumelli has been permanently banned from providing financial services by ASIC. The Noosa based property developer was found to have demonstrated serious incompetence as well as a disregard for the law in his real estate wealth coaching programs, where members were encouraged to invest in property development. These schemes were unregistered and unlicensed, running for eight years and garnering approximately $48 million from members of the public across 27 projects.

Licence Suspension or Cancellation

Two companies had their Australian financial services licence (AFSL) or Australian credit licence (ACL) suspended or cancelled:

• ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of Eden Asset Management Pty Ltd after the company entered liquidation. The cancellation was made with the consent of the company’s liquidators following ASIC enquiries into non-compliance with statutory reporting, audit and financial requirements. ASIC stated that Eden’s licence was cancelled because the company was in liquidation and no longer operating as a financial services business.
• ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of Global Pacific Solutions Group Pty Ltd, effective from 20 May 2026. ASIC said the licence was cancelled because the company was no longer carrying on a financial services business. Under the Corporations Act, ASIC can cancel an AFS licence where a company ceases operating in the financial services sector.

Prohibition 

One individual was prohibited from registering as a financial provider:

• The Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) has extended Stephen Rogers two-year prohibition against registering as a financial services provider by a year. The Former UCG financial advisor was found to have inappropriately recommended self-managed super funds (SMSF) to retail clients and will now be prohibited from providing personal advice to retail clients on relevant financial products for the next three years. 

Director Disqualifications

ASIC disqualified one individual from managing corporations:

• Katsyoshi (Ken) Sadamatsu has been banned from managing corporations for 5 years. Sadamatsu was found to have failed to meet his obligations during his time as director of five now failed food and accommodation companies based in New South Wales. ASIC found that the five companies owed a combined total of $4,375,875.63 to unsecured creditors, the ATO and workers’ compensation. 

Infringement Notices

ASIC issued four infringement notices to a group of companies:

• ASIC has issued infringement notices to four companies within the Australia Canva group. The affiliates of the global online design and publishing tool (Canva Pty Ltd, Canva Operations Pty Limited, Canva Trading Pty Ltd, and Fusion Books Pty Ltd) failed to lodge their financial reports for the financial year ending 31 December 2024. They each paid an infringement notice of $198,000. 

Auditor Actions

Other Enforcement Actions:

• ASIC has exercised new powers to bring Euroclear Bank within Australia’s clearing and settlement licensing regime, declaring that the company has a “material connection” to Australia through its role in settling and holding Australian debt securities. Euroclear must apply for an Australian clearing and settlement (CS) facility licence by 26 May 2027, although ASIC has granted a temporary exemption to avoid disruption while the application is processed. The move follows financial market infrastructure reforms introduced in 2024, which expanded ASIC’s powers to regulate offshore market infrastructure providers with significant Australian operations. ASIC said the change is intended to strengthen the resilience, integrity and oversight of Australia’s financial markets, particularly in debt securities and cross-border settlement activities. The decision was made in consultation with the Reserve Bank of Australia. Euroclear is one of the world’s largest international securities settlement systems and joins Clearstream Banking, which was brought under Australia’s licensing framework in 2025.

If any of the above is relevant to you or you want to know more, please feel free to get in touch.

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The contents of this article do not constitute legal advice and it is not intended to be a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.  It is designed and intended as general information in summary form, current at the time of publication, for general informational purposes only.  You should seek legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any particular legal matters you or your organisation may have. 

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