ASIC Flags CFD Review and Market-Intermediary Priorities

What happened

ASIC has updated its supervision priorities for market intermediaries for 2025-26 and says it will focus on five strategic areas, including consumer outcomes, market conduct and digital resilience. The page is presented as guidance for firms to assess risk management, compliance and supervision arrangements.

Within that agenda, ASIC says it will publish a sector report on CFD issuers’ distribution practices and compliance measures, review mis-selling risks in complex products and consult in 2026 on the next step for the CFD product intervention order.

Why it matters

For retail investors, the main point is that ASIC is not treating CFDs as a settled issue. The regulator says the CFD product intervention order is due to expire on 23 May 2027 unless remade, and it is still collecting evidence on whether the current settings should be extended or changed.

That matters because CFDs are leveraged products, and ASIC says its 2021 order was designed to strengthen retail protections by limiting leverage, standardising margin close-out arrangements, protecting against negative balances and banning certain inducements. The supervision page suggests those protections remain under active review rather than moving into the background.

ASIC is also linking CFD oversight to broader concerns about complex products, unlicensed conduct, scams and digital engagement practices. For readers, that means product labels, marketing tactics and platform conduct remain important areas to watch, not just product performance.

What to verify next

Investors can check whether a CFD provider’s product disclosure, target market materials and margin terms match the current Australian rules and whether any marketing claims appear consistent with ASIC’s supervision priorities.

Readers can also monitor whether ASIC opens the promised 2026 consultation and whether the regulator publishes the sector-wide CFD review it says is coming. Those documents should show whether ASIC is leaning toward extending the current order, remaking it or altering the framework.

If you use leveraged products, it is also worth confirming whether the firm is licensed in Australia and whether its conduct around inducements, account protections and client disclosures is aligned with ASIC’s current expectations.