New ASIC chairman signals agenda
Parliamentary committees have either started or refined work undertaken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), according to its new chairman, James Shipton.
Appearing for the first time before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, Shipton referenced the reforms aimed at lifting professional, ethical and competency standards among financial planners as being one of the key pieces of work of both ASIC and the Parliamentary Committee.
“These improvements should help build trust in the financial advice industry,” he said.
The new ASIC chairman also mentioned the committee’s current inquiry into the life insurance industry, and said ASIC was looking forward to the upcoming release of the committee’s final report.
Shipton also referred to the ASIC enforcement regime, including expanded penalties for misconduct, stating that there had to be appropriate accountability in the regulatory framework and penalties had to be appropriate.
“ASIC’s enforcement toolkit should be as complete as possible,” he said. “I look forward to further discussions about these issues following release of the Enforcement Review Taskforce’s report.”
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