Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert has made it clear that the government wants to see industry bodies in the financial services sector apply to have their codes of practice approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.Speaking at the Financial Services Council's life insurance conference last week, Robert said he expected the FSC to apply for ASIC approval of its updated code, which will be completed this year.Robert said the government would give ASIC the powers it needed to specify enforceable code provisions.At the moment only two of 12 codes in the financial services industry are approved. ASIC approved codes may have provisions that are enforceable by consumers as a contract or guarantee.The Hayne royal commission identified a number of limitations in the current industry code of practice framework. It said there needed to be clarification of the status of undertakings companies make when they sign up for codes and greater certainty about the enforceability of key code provisions.In response, the government issued a consultation paper last week, "Enforceability of Financial Services Industry Codes", asking for responses to a range of questions, including whether subscribing to approved codes should be a licensing condition and in what circumstances the government should prescribe a mandatory code.Currently, only the Code of Banking Practice and the Financial Planning Association Professional Ongoing Fees Code have been formally approved. The royal commission recommended that the law should be changed to extend ASIC's power to approve codes to cover all APRA-regulated institutions and Australian Credit Licence holders. Currently ASIC can only approve industry codes of conduct that relate to the activities of Australian Financial Services licensees, authorised representatives of AFS licensees and issuers of financial products.It also recommended that industry codes approved by ASIC may include "enforceable code provisions", which would have the force of law, and that ASIC may take into consideration whether particular provisions of a code have been designated "enforceable code provisions" in determining whether to approve a code.Industry would be required to identify the provisions of its code that govern the terms of the contract between a financial services company and the customer.And it said ASIC should have the power to impose mandatory industry codes.