Australia'sfinancial watchdog has wrapped up the most lucrative enforcement period in itshistory, extracting nearly $350 million in court-ordered civil penalties fromsome of the country's biggest financial institutions in the second half of lastyear, while also clawing back more than half a billion dollars for ordinaryAustralians caught up in misconduct schemes.TheAustralian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said this week itsecured $349.8 million in civil penalties between July and December 2025, thehighest six-monthly total since the agency's founding. That figurecomes alongside $583 million in refunds and compensation payments flowing backto consumers and investors, a combined outcome that Chairman Joe Longo calledevidence of a regulator that has fundamentally changed how it operates."Today,ASIC is one of the most active law enforcement agencies in the country,"Longo said. "We are taking more cases to court, achieving recordpenalties, and protecting consumers."ANZ Pays the Biggest PriceNo singleoutcome defined the period more than the action against ANZ. In December, theFederal Court ordered Australia and New Zealand Banking Group topay $250 million in combined penalties - the largest amount ASIC has eversecured against one entity - for a pattern of misconduct that stretched frombond market manipulation to charging fees to the accounts of dead customers.DeputyChairwoman Sarah Court didn't soften her message. "This outcome sends aclear message to ANZ that it needs to do better by its customers and to allbanks that the cost of breaking the law is not an acceptable cost of doingbusiness."ANZ nowfaces 11 civil penalty proceedings brought by ASIC since 2016. Cbus, NAB, andRAMS Financial Group also faced significant penalties during the period - $23.5million, $15.5 million, and $20 million, respectively - for failures rangingfrom botched death benefit payments to home loan compliance gaps.“Our Work Continues”Theenforcement ramp-up is part of a multi-year pattern. ASIC securedover $120 million in court-ordered penalties during the full 2024-25 fiscalyear and hasbeen steadily increasing the volume and scale of its actions.[#highlighted-links#] Theregulator granted 290new Australian Financial Services licences in FY25 while pulling back 215 others - a patternthat reflects a regulator tightening who gets to operate in the market, notjust punishing those who already are.Longoacknowledged that the pace won't ease off. "While 2025 was a significantyear, our work continues in intensity in the year ahead."Shield and First Guardian:$420 Million and CountingBeyond theheadline bank penalties, ASIC's two most complex ongoing investigations - intothe collapsed ShieldMaster Fund and First Guardian Master Fund - produced some of the period'smost consequential outcomes for ordinary investors.Bothschemes funnelled Australians' superannuation savings into managed investmentproducts that subsequently unravelled. By December, ASIC had secured more than$420 million in compensation commitments for around 4,000 investors. Macquarieadmitted to contraventions of the Corporations Act and committed to paying $321million to Shield investors, while Netwealth agreed to pay over $100 million tomore than 1,000 First Guardian investors.FinanceMagnates.com previouslyreported on the early stages of these collapses in June 2025, when ASIC first moved tofreeze assets across 31 connected entities as some 600 Australians stood tolose $160 million in retirement savings.Corporate Complaints SurgeA separatedataset released Wednesday adds another dimension to the picture. Between Julyand December 2025, ASIC received 9,686 reports of misconduct, raising 13,036individual issues, a 28% jump from the first half of the year. The agencyattributed part of that increase to a redesigned reporting portal launched inJune that made lodging complaints easier.Corporategovernance concerns accounted for 40% of all issues raised - up from 3,819 inthe previous period to 5,217 - driven by failures to hand company records toliquidators, fraud allegations, and insolvency matters. Financial services andretail investor issues made up another 44%.DeputyChairwoman Court said the data reinforces where ASIC plans to focus. "Theyunderscore [ASIC's enforcement priorities], which include tackling governanceand directors' duties failures, reaffirming that stronger governance remains atop priority for ASIC."Low-Income Customers Get$161 Million BackSeparately,ASIC's "Better and Beyond" review of bank fee practices producedanother significant consumer outcome. Twenty-one banks agreed to refund $161million to customers who had been stuck in high-fee accounts - a groupdisproportionately made up of low-income earners. The Commonwealth Bank alonecommitted to returning $68 million in December.CommissionerAlan Kirkland acknowledged progress but struck a cautious note: "Ourintervention has forced many banks to take action, but more needs to be done toensure financially vulnerable consumers are not put in this positionagain."Severalbanks also shifted more than one million customers into low-fee accounts, achange ASIC estimates will save them a combined $50 million annually.A 14-Year Prison SentenceSends a MessageOn thecriminal side, the period's most striking outcome was a 14-year prison sentencehanded to West Australian fraudsterChris Marco by the Supreme Court of Western Australia - pending appeal, thelongest custodial sentence ever imposed in connection with an ASIC criminalinvestigation. The regulator recorded 17 criminal convictions againstindividuals across the period, a 31% increase from the prior six months.Across allenforcement categories, ASIC launched 123 new investigations, completed 518surveillances, filed 23 new civil proceedings, and commenced 11 new criminalprosecutions. Infringement notice penalties totalled $6.9 million.This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.