Published by the Stockbrockers Association of Australia in the Stockbrokers Monthly, May 2016.

ASIC has been making an effort to improve its communications with the stockbroking industry. The main change is greater choice, in particular, about how you receive information and what you can do with it. This is part of our commitment to regulating for real people, as set out in our Corporate Plan.

This article highlights some of the ways we're doing things differently.

Choose it

People have different knowledge, interest and motivations for seeking information from us. We are trying to accommodate these differences in the content we prepare.

For example, when we updated our review of high frequency trading and dark liquidity, we reported our findings in three different formats. These were: a technical report (Report 452 Review of high-frequency trading and dark liquidity), an information summary (INFO 209) and a media release (15-311MR) setting out our findings.

Click on it

The Market Entity Compliance System (MECS) was rolled out last year. Users can access support material electronically, including FAQs and interactive training modules and regulatory information such as regulatory guides and ASIC market integrity rules. Users can also ask questions of (and get answers from) their ASIC relationship manager and lodge a range of commonly used forms and applications. You've said you appreciate the convenience of having these resources in one location.

Watch it

We overhauled our six-monthly market integrity results. Now Report 475 Market Integrity Report: July to December 2015 consists of a short webpage and a three minute video. Before, the report was published as a lengthy document.

The first time we released this report in new format we achieved a 40% increase in readers and nearly 700 people watched the YouTube video. Clearly the shorter (less time consuming) format appeals to people.

Listen to it

New options for delivering content are being developed. When we released Report 476 ASIC enforcement outcomes: 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015 (Report 476), a podcast with ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer was posted online.

Likewise, a recording from a session on robo-advice at ASIC's 2016 Annual Forum has been made available to the public. As a result, anyone can listen to experts discuss the topic. All our podcasts are available at asic.podbean.com.

Look at it

We've been adding visual content to documents to improve understanding and recall. For the first time, Report 476 had infographics on specific ASIC investigations. We've also made visual content available for businesses to use, such as this educational poster about suspicious activity reporting.

Compare it

We've been sharing our observations of industry practices to enable people to benchmark their arrangements or awareness of issues. For example, we surveyed investment banks on their attitude and approach to conduct risk. We then gave them a feedback report so they could compare their responses against the aggregated survey results.

Recently released Report 468 Cyber resilience assessment report: ASX Group and Chi-x Australia Pty Ltd also has examples of emerging good practices from some financial sector organisations.

Read it

We regularly submit articles on markets-related issues to publications. Typically, these publications are only available to members or subscribers. We have permission to republish our articles on the ASIC website. Each month, we alert people to new articles via the ASIC Market Integrity Update.

Tell us about it

Based on engagement analytics and anecdotally, it appears you appreciate our efforts to improve communications. However, we recognise that more can be done. We want to hear how you want to be communicated with.

Comments on our communications are welcome (and can be sent to feedback@asic.gov.au). We also welcome ideas for topics you want us to cover.