Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Greg Medcraft has released a video update in which he accuses recent media reports of trying to smear its staff and culture, and cast doubt on "ASIC's good work".
The media reports, he said, coincided with the Senate inquiry into the regulator's performance. The inquiry has so far received close to 350 submissions, mostly coming from industry bodies, industry participants, law firms, and clients who were affected by corporate collapses such as Storm Financial and Trio Capital.
Many claimed ASIC was not resourced well enough to efficiently complete its tasks as a regulator covering broad areas. Others, some of whom were former staffers, accused the watchdog of bad workplace culture and inefficiencies when it comes to complaints handling processes.
ASIC has since rejected such claims and lodged three submissions to the inquiry in which it highlighted its achievements over the years, but also pointed to the areas where there is room for improvement.
"But our submission shows that ASIC has much to be proud of," Medcraft said.
"We have excellent staff — men and women who work here for good reason. That is because they believe in the public interest."
The ASIC Chairman added the regulator would be fronting up to the Senate inquiry and answering questions to the best of its ability.
"We welcome the inquiry and all the submissions people have made. We read them all and want to use this information to do a better job."
