ASIC’s senior executive leader for deposit takers, credit and insurers Michael Saadat said the regulator is “in the process of scoping that project at the moment to work out what it will cover and what it will look at”.

Mr Saadat said the intent of the project is “to look more broadly than isolated or individual instances of loan fraud and come up with a strategy that can deal with it more comprehensively”.

ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell said ASIC is receiving quite a few reports from lenders about loan fraud, adding that the corporate regulator has taken action to ban brokers from the industry and, in some cases, has launched criminal prosecutions, as reported by The Adviser.

“What we also want to do is shift some of that responsibility back over to the lenders as well. That’s quite critical,” Mr Kell said.

An ASIC spokesperson told SMSF Adviser that the corporate regulator is still in the process of determining the specific loan areas the project will focus on. It said all loan types, including SMSF loans, are on the table at this stage.