Between July last year and June this year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission more than doubled its number of wealth management investigations.

In the same period, ASIC investigations rose by 20% and enforcement investigations involving Australia's largest financial institutions (some of which were in the wealth management arena) rose by 51%. This is a result of pressure from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.

The figures come from a speech by Commissioner John Price earlier this month, in which he described the new 'why not litigate' policy that he is following.

"It is not a ‘litigate first’ or ‘litigate everything’ strategy. This would not be appropriate from a discretion perspective nor practical from a resource perspective.

"Why not litigate? means that once ASIC is satisfied that breaches of the law are more likely than not, and [that] the facts of the case show that pursuing the matter would be in the public interest, then we will actively ask ourselves: 'why not litigate this matter?'"