Royal commission must consider ASIC's resources: Medcraft
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says a royal commission into its handling of Commonwealth Financial Planning (CommFP) scandal would divert resources from other investigations it's currently pursuing.
Short of saying it did not support the royal commission, the regulator said the opportunity cost was a matter for government to weigh up, with consideration of the cost implications of responding to another inquiry.
"There has been a lot of opportunities to air this¬ It does mean that if we allocate resources to responding to yet another inquiry, they're resources we won't be able to use in pursuing other objectives of ASIC, because we have limited resources," ASIC's chairman Greg Medcraft said.
"Ultimately, it's a matter for government."
The comments follow the release of a Senate report into the performance of the regulator, which recommended a royal commission into ASIC's actions in response to the events that led to CommFP entering into an enforceable undertaking (EU).
Medcraft said ASIC would actively participate if a royal commission is called, but stressed a lot of time and resources had already been channelled into the investigation.
"Clearly it's a matter of making decisions about resources and whether, when balancing it up, you decide whether those resources are better used here or there," he said.
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