The federal government has abandoned plans to commercialise the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's registry because it would not deliver any benefit.
The sale was potentially worth between $3 billion and $6 billion, and cancellation will be good news for about 250 people in Traralgon, where a lot of registry work is done.
![Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has abandoned plans to privatise the ASIC Registry.](/web/20161220185359im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/e/2/g/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gte4hx.png/1482183033963.jpg)
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann announced on Monday the government would not proceed with the sale following a "thorough evaluation of final private sector bids to upgrade and operate the ASIC registry functions".
"The reason the government decided not to proceed with the commercialisation of the ASIC Registry is that the final bids received did not deliver a net financial benefit for the commonwealth," according to a statement from the Finance Department.
"Learnings from this process will now feed into the government's consideration of future approaches and improvements to government registry functions."
The sale was first flagged in 2013 in former treasurer Joe Hockey's Commission of Audit.
The registry, which charges for access to records about companies, directors and individuals, generated $680 million in revenue in 2013 and cost about $142 million to operate.
Altogether there are 31 registries containing more than 10 million records.
![Plans to commercialise the ASIC registry were started by former treasurer Joe Hockey, following the Abbott government's ...](/web/20161220185359im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/j/n/5/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gte4hx.png/1482183033963.jpg)
There was concern a private operator could increase prices, thus making it more expensive to find out who owns and operates companies.
ASIC said in a note sent to staff: "there will be no immediate change to ASIC operations arising from the competitive tender process. ASIC's current operations will continue as usual."
![The Finance Department was exploring the potential for a private operator to run and enhance the ASIC Registry.](/web/20161220185359im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/w/m/l/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gte4hx.png/1482183033963.jpg)
CPA Australia chief executive Alex Malley applauded the government's decision, saying privatisation "has always been in conflict with the government's own open data policy which commits to release non-sensitive data as open by default".
"There were more than 200 jobs at stake in the hard-hit Latrobe Valley in Victoria - job certainty is everything those families could wish for this Christmas," Mr Malley said.
"The challenge ahead is that registry information that is free in other comparable jurisdictions like the USA, UK and New Zealand is expensive and difficult to access here. That's something that needs to be addressed."