The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is set to shift its focus towards the wealth management industry in 2013, according to Minter Ellison partner Katrina Groshinski.
The industry watchdog has spent the last few years targeting consumer issues in the banking industry, said Groshinski.
But in comments made on Monday, ACCC chairman Rod Sims indicated that the commission’s enforcement priorities for 2013 are going to involve pushing hard against anti-competitive conduct – and he specifically mentioned the financial services sector, said Groshinski.
“The ACCC is pretty good about publicly communicating where their focus is. So when Rod Sims says ‘we’re looking at the financial sector’, that’s where they’ll be looking,” she said.
Groshinski pointed to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation, due to come into force on 1 July 2013, and the consolidation this is likely to drive in the wealth management space, as a factor in the ACCC’s thinking.
The last time the ACCC looked at the wealth management sector closely involved the Commonwealth Bank’s acquisition of Count Financial, which was cleared to go ahead by the commission, she said.
“But where [the ACCC] has raised some potential issues is when you have a large organisation buying a network of dealers – where there is potential for that organisation to direct business upstream. I think they will take a more active interest in those sorts of acquisitions next year,” Groshinski said.
