Not an ASIC gouge, but possibly a round-up
Don’t anyone dare suggest that the registries run by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are a fee-gouging exercise.
Outsider notes that the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer, has been most insistent that the fees paid to (not gouged by) the ASIC registries are a reflection of the service those registries deliver and not a revenue-raising exercise on the part of the regulator to fund its pursuit of the industry.
In fact, O’Dwyer insists that ASIC never gets to do more than pass the money through to the Federal Treasury which then, promptly and efficiently, plonks it into consolidated revenue where it can be used to benefit all Australians.
All of which is good news for those financial services firms who have just recently been reading ASIC’s Cost Recovery Implementation Statement ' Fees for Service document released in early July, which confirms just how much planners and others will have to pay for licensing and other interactions with their favourite regulator.
They will also be pleased to note the comment in the ASIC document that “under our fee-for-service model, the fees payable may not match our exact costs in all cases”.
Outsider is willing to bet that when it comes to costs, the greatly empowered regulator will be rounding-up rather than rounding-down.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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