AFSA’s Annual Report: Regulatory stewardship underpins a strong credit system for Australia
The Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) has released its Annual Report 2023-24. The Report details the important activities undertaken to build a strong credit system for the Australian community.
Increasing economic pressures are leading to increasing financial vulnerability in Australian households and businesses, with a 17% rise in personal insolvencies in 2023-24. However, these numbers remain at more than 30-year lows.
In 2023-24 AFSA increased its focus on financially vulnerable Australians and to ensuring Australia has a trustworthy support network that promotes confidence in the system.
Report highlights include:
- Elevating our compliance and enforcement focus to protect against misuse of the personal insolvency and personal property securities systems.
- Establishing the Education and Outreach team to deliver targeted educational information for priority audiences, including people experiencing financial hardship.
- Releasing leading insights publications, including the State of Personal Insolvency System Report and the State of Personal Property Securities System Report. These publications provide an annual snapshot of the systems we regulate, including key statistics and trends.
- Hosting the inaugural AFSA Summit, bringing together more than 100 stakeholders from across the credit ecosystem to discuss contemporary issues affecting the sector.
AFSA Chief Executive, Tim Beresford, said: “I am proud of the results and initiatives delivered in 2023-24, in our pursuit of regulatory stewardship through education and outreach, compliance and enforcement.”
“In particular, our shift in regulatory posture to protect against system misuse in a more challenging economic environment has been a deliberate and strategic initiative. This approach is focused on the balance between being firm on those who cause system harm, and fair with those experiencing financial hardship, to drive maximum integrity and confidence in the system.
“Critically, we operate within a broader credit ecosystem, and we believe strongly in collective stewardship through collaboration with our stakeholders across the personal insolvency system. Intelligence-led regulation gives us visibility of the risks and opportunities across the ecosystem and fortifies our connections with other regulators.”
The Personal Property Security Register (PPSR) plays an increasing role in collateral protection and providing consumers and businesses with information on outstanding debt obligations on second-hand commodities. On 30 June 2024, there were close to 2.2 million new registrations, a 7.9% increase compared to Financial Year 2022-23.
AFSA’s confiscated criminal assets under management rose 33% for the year to $586 million, with proceeds used to benefit the community in areas including local crime prevention and education.
The full report is available at Annual reports.
AFSA is an executive agency in the Attorney-General’s portfolio responsible for regulating Australia’s personal insolvency and personal property securities systems and managing criminal assets.
