Australia must run to catch up
The Australian financial services industry needs to address a range of tax, regulatory and infrastructure reform issues to support local investors and maximise Australia’s opportunities on the world stage, according to the chair of the Australian Custodial Services Association, Bryan Gray.
Gray told the organisation’s annual conference in Sydney today that despite being the fourth largest investment market in the world, Australia was still too reliant on old-fashioned faxing and manual processing.
“If we could improve the efficiency of our underlying financial infrastructure, as well as abolish some unappealing taxes, Australian companies and investment funds would attract a lot more investors from offshore,” he said.
Gray said that customers were an integral part of Australia’s investment industry infrastructure but despite the pace of change in Australia, the global investment community continued to move faster.
“We need to ensure our somewhat insulated market is able to support the massive ongoing growth in funds, increasing cross-border activity, and relentless rise in investment complexity that we foresee over the coming decades,” he said.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
Multiple industry organisations have shared their thoughts on AFCA’s proposed rules amendment, supporting the idea of firms being named publicly when they fail to comply with determinations.
Channel Capital has appointed a head of investment oversight who joins from 14 years at asset consulting firm JANA Investment Advisers.
Licensee Centrepoint Alliance has completed the acquisition of Brighter Super’s annual review service advice book, via Financial Advice Matters.
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
