ASIC after bad trees, not just apples

Anyone providing dodgy financial advice would be banned from managing a business, under a review of the securities watchdog's powers.

At the moment the Australian Securities and Investments Commission can only deal with the "bad apples", chairman Greg Medcraft told a Senate committee on Wednesday.

"This new power will allow us to deal with the problem, with the trees," he said.

"Often it is problem with the tree more than just the apples - bad tree, always bad apples."

More broadly, ASIC has had 240 enforcement results in the past year, resulting in $804 million in compensation, remediation or return of investor funds.

It imposed $9.7 million in fines, penalties and infringement notices.

However, it was not all wins at the agency with an insider-dealing case thrown out of court just last week.