Senate inquiry into ASIC drives up workload
The Senate Committee of inquiry into the performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is proving to be time-consuming not only for the regulator but many of the major banks and insurers.
This is because those submissions lodged with the Senate inquiry which reference matters concerning entities such as the Commonwealth Bank, NRMA Insurance or ING Direct are actually being referred to those companies for their responses.
In a number of instances, the matters raised with the Senate inquiry have already been handled by either ASIC itself or the Financial Ombudsman Service.
With the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott scheduled to announce his new Cabinet today and with Parliament expected to resume in late October, the Senate committee is likely to resume its proceedings and move to public hearings before the end of the year.
The Senate Committee of Inquiry was established following newspaper reports over ASIC's handling of the enforceable undertaking entered into by Commonwealth Financial Planning in 2010, but the process is expected to traverse a broader range of issues including the regulator's handling of matters related to the Future of Financial Advice changes.
The inquiry is also expected to traverse ASIC's handling of the collapse of Storm Financial and Trio/Astarra.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
Recommended for you
The top five licensees are demonstrating a “strong recovery” from losses in the first half of the year, and the gap is narrowing between their respective adviser numbers.
With many advisers preparing to retire or sell up, business advisory firm Business Health believes advisers need to take a proactive approach to informing their clients of succession plans.
Retirement commentators have flagged that almost a third of Australians over 50 are unprepared for the longevity of retirement and are falling behind APAC peers in their preparations and advice engagement.
As private markets continue to garner investor interest, Netwealth’s series of private market reports have revealed how much advisers and wealth managers are allocating, as well as a growing attraction to evergreen funds.
