The head of Australia's corporate regulator admits it can't pursue every company cheating investors.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has faced criticism that it acted too late as Townsville-based financial services group Storm Financial collapsed in early 2009.
With some investors now receiving compensation from the Bank of Queensland and Macquarie Bank, over the Storm meltdown, ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said the corporate regulator could only take action if there was sufficient evidence.
"Clearly, we don't pursue every case," he told reporters in Brisbane on Wednesday on the sidelines of a Financial Services Council forum.
"Sometimes we see a lot of harm, a lot of loss, we see a good case for moving ahead but if the evidence is not there, we can't pursue it.
"People go `they're absolutely guilty, guilty as sin'. We probably agree with them and often we'll take things to court, but the fact you enter court means the outcome is uncertain."
Mr Medcraft also criticised firms that gave briefings to analysts, with potentially price sensitive information, before telling the market, following a disclosure scandal involving gold miner Newcrest.
"If they're providing information that goes beyond that, then that's an issue," he said.
But he declined to say if the federal government needed to create a register of meetings between company officials and analysts.
Mr Medcraft said sellers of investment products also needed to find ways to better explain what investors were buying, which could include video presentations or interactive internet modules.
"Industry needs to be concerned that people buying their products maybe don't understand ... because generally it will come back to haunt them," he said.
"People often, maybe don't read things, not because they don't understand. They may not have the time."
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