ASIC has today released proposed updates to its conflicts management guidance for financial services businesses.
Regulatory Guide 181 Licensing: Managing conflicts of interest (RG 181) was last updated in August 2004. The proposed changes will align the guidance with developments in law and policy and have been informed by ASIC's private markets surveillance work.
ASIC Commissioner Kate O'Rourke said: 'Conflicts management is a core obligation for financial services businesses and helps promote consumer protection and market credibility.
'Conflicts of interest are more than mere moral dilemmas. They can undermine trust, integrity and performance, causing serious harm to consumers, investors and overall market confidence.'
The updated guidance sets out how Australian financial services (AFS) licensees should comply with their conflicts management obligation and explains:
- how the law applies, including its scope and interaction with other related obligations
- the types of conflicts AFS licensees need to identify and manage to meet their obligation
- the need to have robust and tailored arrangements that are adequate to manage conflicts, and
- how licensees can effectively manage conflicts.
The updated guidance includes a roadmap that sign-posts other related conflicts management obligations that AFS licensees need to be aware of.
'These updates support ASIC's strategic priority to improve transparency and consistency across products and markets and aim to ensure financial markets operate efficiently and fairly,' O'Rourke said.
The consultation forms part of ASIC's broader regulatory maintenance work and our proposed updates align with ASIC's simplification agenda.
Providing feedback
Details on how to give feedback can be found in ASIC Consultation Paper 385 Proposed update to RG 181 Licensing: Managing conflicts of interest (CP 385). Responses are due by 5 pm AEST, 5 September 2025.
Background
Conflicts of interest represent a significant source of misconduct as well as consumer, investor and economic harm within the financial services sector.
An AFS licensee must comply with s912A(1)(aa) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), which sets out the conflicts management obligation.
The conflicts management obligation should apply to all conflicts of interest, except those that occur entirely outside of a financial services business.
Conflicts of interest were raised as an area requiring further clarification in a number of submissions to ASIC's discussion paper on the evolving dynamics between public and private markets, released in February 2025.
ASIC also intends to publish findings from its surveillance focusing on auditors' compliance with their independence and conflicts of interest obligations later this year.
