Govt Senator accuses ASIC of failure over Fincorp
A senior Government Senator has accused the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of failure with the respect to the Fincorp collapse.
Tasmanian Liberal Party Senator John Watson used the adjournment debate in the Parliament to attack ASIC, claiming that it had “failed as a regulator”.
Senator Watson said that he had pointed to issues relating to Fincorp up to a year ago in the context of the fallout from the Westpoint collapse, including having asked specific questions of ASIC during a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing on May 31, last year.
“In the 10 months following the appearance of ASIC before the committee, the recent events involving Fincorp show that retail investors are still at risk,” he said.
Senator Watson said what was even more worrying “and a more significant indictment of ASIC” was that, unlike Westpoint, which exploited a loophole in the law to avoid the prospectus requirements of the Corporations Act, retirees who invested in Fincorp debentures did so on the basis of a prospectus that was required by law and that was lodged with ASIC.
“Further, even though ASIC claims it was on high alert, it took limited action,” he said.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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