The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on 26 October made an interim stop order on the product disclosure statement (PDS) for the Murdoch Clarke Mortgage Fund, a registered managed investment scheme with A$573.2 million in net assets at 30 June 2026. The order stops Murdoch Clarke Mortgage Management Ltd from offering, issuing, selling or transferring interests in the fund until the disclosure is fixed or ASIC decides on a final order. It follows similar orders against funds run by Australian Secure Capital Fund and against the Remara Cash Management Fund in the past five weeks. In RegMemo’s analysis, the order shows ASIC using its fastest disclosure tool to pull private credit funds back to the benchmarks in its mortgage scheme guidance before it publishes its second surveillance report, which Commissioner Simone Constant said would come “soon”.
Four gaps in the PDS, led by related-party dealings
ASIC lists four concerns. The PDS fails to disclose information about related party transactions. It fails to adequately disclose the fees and costs of investing in the fund. It contains insufficient information about risks, and the risk information it does give is not clear, concise and effective. It also fails to disclose withdrawal details adequately and prominently.
The fund’s assets explain why those four points carry weight. According to ASIC, the fund invests mainly in interest-only loans with principal repayable on demand, secured by mortgages over vacant or built-on land in Tasmania. A retail investor in that fund depends on three things that the PDS is supposed to explain: who sits on the other side of the loans, how much of the loan margin the manager keeps, and how quickly money can come out when the loans themselves are not amortising.
Two of those map directly to ASIC’s guidance. Regulatory Guide 45 on mortgage schemes, in the version ASIC published in March 2026, sets eight benchmarks that responsible entities must address on an “if not, why not” basis. They cover liquidity, borrowing, portfolio diversification, related party transactions, valuation, loan-to-value ratios, distributions and withdrawals, alongside eight disclosure principles. ASIC’s release does not cite RG 45 by name, but two of its four concerns, related party transactions and withdrawals, are RG 45 benchmark areas.
Interim orders have worked as a fast route to a new PDS
An interim stop order takes effect at once. Murdoch Clarke can make submissions before any final decision. ASIC’s recent record shows how these orders tend to end.
On 8 October ASIC halted offers in three mortgage funds run by Australian Secure Capital Fund, with A$251.8 million under management, over loan portfolio disclosure, a possibly misleading statement about the cost of exiting, and an investor reserve account. ASIC revoked that order on 19 October after the manager reissued the PDS with new disclosure, including amendments against the RG 45 benchmarks and disclosure principles. On 22 September, in a case under the design and distribution obligations, ASIC made interim orders against three products in the Remara Cash Management Fund over target market determinations that described them as suitable for capital preservation and as a core holding of up to 50% of a portfolio. Those orders were revoked on 1 October after the issuer cut the suggested allocation to 25% at most and dropped capital preservation as an objective.
Both cases ended with a rewritten document within weeks. For a fund of Murdoch Clarke’s size, a few weeks without new money can strain liquidity if existing investors keep asking to withdraw, and withdrawal disclosure is on ASIC’s list.
The second surveillance report will set the next round
The order came out of ASIC’s continuing surveillance of private credit, which covers distribution to retail clients through direct and advised channels, and fees, margin structures and conflict management in wholesale funds. Its first surveillance report, REP 820, published on 5 November 2025, reviewed 28 funds, 20 retail and eight wholesale, between October 2024 and August 2025, and found weaknesses in disclosure, fee and margin transparency, governance, valuation, liquidity and credit risk practices.
Constant’s comment on 26 October goes further than the earlier releases. Of the second surveillance, she said practices are “not where we need them to be”. For responsible entities of mortgage and private credit funds, that points to a report with named practice failures and, on the pattern of the past six weeks, more interim orders before or alongside it.
Fund managers and platforms distributing these products should read the four concerns in the Murdoch Clarke order as a checklist. Related party lending, the split of loan interest between the manager and investors, and withdrawal terms for funds holding on-demand or interest-only loans are the areas ASIC has now named across three separate actions.
What to watch
- Murdoch Clarke’s submissions and a revised PDS, and whether ASIC revokes the interim order or makes a final stop order.
- ASIC’s second private credit surveillance report, which Commissioner Constant said will be released soon.
- Further interim stop orders or design and distribution actions against retail private credit and mortgage funds.
Primary sources
- ASIC, 26-257MR ASIC halts offers in mortgage scheme managed by Murdoch Clarke Mortgage Management Ltd, 26 October 2026
- ASIC, 26-234MR ASIC halts offers in mortgage schemes managed by Australian Secure Capital Fund, 8 October 2026
- ASIC, 26-225MR ASIC halts offers of private credit products offered under Remara Cash Management Fund, 22 September 2026
- ASIC, RG 45 Mortgage schemes: Improving disclosure for retail investors, March 2026
- ASIC, REP 820 Private credit surveillance: retail and wholesale funds, 5 November 2025
Photo (cropped): Tony 1212, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
