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The chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Tony D’Aloisio, has defended the role of the corporate regulator, arguing that its role is not to prevent losses or failures but to enforce the law, clean up the mess and punish wrongdoers.
D’Aloisio used a speech in Brisbane to acknowledge that many people suggested ASIC should prevent losses or failures, but said this was not consistent with the regulator’s legislated responsibilities, which were limited and focused on oversight and enforcement.
Likening ASIC’s role to that of a road traffic authority, D’Aloisio said: “Basically, ASIC oversees and enforces the laws and couples that with extensive work to guide and educate those who travel on the roads”.
“Unfortunately, accidents still happen,” he said. “When they do, we turn up at the scene, we clear the mess, we care for the injured and we punish the wrongdoers.”
However, D’Aloisio said ASIC also used its resources to look for dangers, to determine where accidents might happen and to fix them ahead of time.
“But it is simply not the intention of the Act, and consequently ASIC is not resourced to be on every road and at every intersection,” he said.
