Earlier this month, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released a report outlining the dos and don'ts for handling whistleblower investigations.
Since the new whistleblower regime commenced in 2019, ASIC has issued extensive guidance on the requirements for a compliant whistleblower policy (see our earlier articles on ASIC Regulatory Guide 270 and its whistleblower policy review). However, regulated entities have so far received little guidance on how they should handle a whistleblower disclosure or the subsequent investigations.
The penalties applicable to mismanagement of a whistleblower investigation are significant - for example, disclosure of a whistleblower's identity without their consent can attract a criminal penalty of six months imprisonment or, for a company, a civil penalty equivalent to the greater of:
Given the stakes, we expect ASIC's new guidance to be welcome news for directors and officers of regulated entities.
So, what are ASIC's tips? We set out four key recommendations below.
It's important to ensure that your organisation takes a consistent approach when responding to whistleblower complaints.
This is helpful from an organisational perspective and helps avoid allegations that one whistleblower complaint is...
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