ASIC and NZSC to fight cross border scams
The Australian Securitiesand Investments Commission (ASIC) and the New Zealand Securities Commission (NZSC) have reached an agreement to explore opportunities to co-operate in the regulation and combating of cross-border investment scams.
The two groups met in Melbourne recently, at which both ASIC and the NZSC agreed to build on their existing co-operative relationship and share information about Trans-Tasman swindles.
Joint enforcement strategies and investor education programs to target scams are also being considered.
The Australian and New Zealand Governments have released a discussion paper containing a proposal for mutual recognition of securities offerings in each country, so that the offer can be made to investors in the other country.
At the Melbourne meeting, NZSC and ASIC agreed to work on the detailed regulatory arrangements that would need to be put in place to underpin that proposal.
“In an era of increasing globalisation of securities markets, it is important that regulators regularly exchange information and develop co-operative regulatory arrangements,” ASIC chairman Jeffrey Lucy says.
Meanwhile, Lucy’s counterpart at the NZSC says “more co-operative regulatory arrangements between the Commission and ASIC will assist businesses operating in both countries”.
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