May 27, Sydney - Australia must simplify its regulatory regime to encourage innovation and revive its sluggish initial public offering (IPO) market, the country’s outgoing top corporate regulator said, warning that ever-growing complexity is creating obstacles for startups and public listings.
Joe Longo, Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), who is completing a five-year term on Friday, said lawmakers and regulators have unintentionally made the law hard to navigate. "Australia has, with good intent, added to the complexity, so the legislation now is almost impenetrable," he said.
Longo described an environment where regulators are attempting to manage a sprawling body of law rather than rolling back complexity through legislative reform. "We have a problem and at the moment the strategy is to get the regulators to try and administer the law more effectively, efficiently, simply not make it worse than it needs to be," he said. "But I think we’re not good at law reform."
The scale of the legislative framework is striking: the Corporations Act, which ASIC administers, spans more than 3,300 pages and has been criticised by bankers and lawyers as burdensome. Critics say the dense statute can push up compliance costs, prolong decision-making and deter new entrants, including startups, bankers and legal advisers.
Reviving Australia’s capital markets has been a priority for ASIC during Longo’s tenure. Among the regulator’s initiatives was reducing the typical company listing timeline by one week from the usual 20-week process. Despite such efforts, IPO activity remains weak: data from LSEG show that companies raised just $11 million in IPOs in Australia in the first quarter, one of the lowest quarterly totals since the global financial crisis in 2008.
The current level of issuance is a sharp contrast with the peak in the first quarter of 2021, when listed companies raised $542.2 million. While the IPO market has improved from an earlier period in 2025 when there were no listings, it remains far below that earlier peak.
ASIC has urged the government and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to weigh lighter disclosure obligations and relax some listing requirements to encourage more public offerings. Longo said the regulator has pushed these points but that the feedback he received suggested there was limited additional action ASIC could take alone. "We have done a lot of work on this and the consistent feedback we got is there wasn’t much more ASIC itself could do," he said.
On the regulator’s broader position, Longo expressed confidence in the structural soundness of Australia’s regulatory architecture. "I think our regulatory architecture is in pretty good shape, and I think that’s respected and acknowledged outside of the country," he said. Still, he reiterated that complexity remains the primary challenge: "Where I think we’re on more challenging ground ... is we do have a problem with regulatory complexity."
Longo will be succeeded by ASIC’s Deputy Chair, Sarah Court. His comments underline the tension between preserving robust oversight and trimming rules perceived as excessive to enable faster capital formation and greater participation in public markets.
Key takeaways
- ASIC Chair Joe Longo, leaving after five years, says legislative complexity is impeding innovation and listings.
- The Corporations Act exceeds 3,300 pages and is viewed by market participants as a significant compliance burden.
- IPO volumes are very low: only $11 million raised in Q1, far below the $542.2 million raised in Q1 2021, per LSEG data.
Sectors affected: Financial services, legal services, capital markets, and startups seeking public listings.
Risks and uncertainties
- Regulatory complexity may continue to raise compliance costs and deter listings, affecting capital markets and startups.
- Limited scope for ASIC to unilaterally loosen rules means change may depend on government or exchange action, introducing timing uncertainty for reforms.
- Low IPO activity could persist if lighter disclosure rules and eased listing requirements are not adopted, constraining fundraising options for companies seeking to go public.
Note: The article reflects statements and figures provided by the regulator and market data as cited; it does not introduce additional facts beyond those presented.