Why Did ASIC Sue Amex and Terminate 2 Licenses?

On Tuesday, three companies were subject to regulatory actions by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The financial market watchdog took civil penalty action against American Express Australia Limited, cancelled AFSL Group Pty Ltd (AFSL Group) authorization, and suspended Quantum Funds Management Limited's (QFML) Australian financial services (AFS) licence (Amex).

Four managed investment schemes were being run by QMFL, whose licence was suspended. According to ASIC, the company lacks sufficient liability insurance to offer such products. The entity may continue to offer the services required to wind up the current schemes after the suspension.

In its first civil penalty case involving the breach of distribution and credit card design duties, the regulator has reportedly started court proceedings against American Express Australia, according to a press release from December 6th 2022.

Co-branded credit cards were available from Amex and the David Jones retail chain. Amex ought to have created a Target Market Determination (TMD) to evaluate the product's proper distribution and the potential pool of pertinent recipients. According to ASIC, people who wanted to use a card that earned loyalty points to make credit purchases were not restricted by the TMDs that the company presented.

The regulator claims that the business was aware of the high cancellation rate for David Jones cards, which was significantly higher than the cancellation rate for regular credit cards. Amex was also aware that some customers were confused by the offer and didn't know if they had applied for a credit card or a loyalty card. Amex should have stopped issuing credit cards as a result, but it did so until July 5th, 2022.

“The issuers and distributors of financial products must adopt a consumer-centric strategy under the design and distribution obligation. Product providers cannot approach product governance with a ”set-and-forget mindset“ and must continuously assess whether consumers are receiving products that meet their needs. Providers must react to poor outcomes by changing their practises, ”ASIC's deputy chair, Sara Court, said.

As the country's corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is a separate agency of the Australian government. The purpose of ASIC is to enforce laws protecting Australian consumers, investors, and creditors by regulating business and financial services.

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