ASIC prepares to adopt market supervision

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced the formation of a management team and an advisory panel to assist in the transfer of front line market supervision from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to ASIC.

The move comes in the wake of Treasury’s release of the consultation paper on Reforms to the Supervision of Australia’s Financial Markets.

A cross-functional management team will develop proposals for ASIC’s new responsibilities, which include market surveillance and participant supervision, and analysing market trends. The team will be led by Mr Greg Yanco, Senior Executive Leader, Market Supervision Project, reporting to the Commission.

A Market Supervision Advisory Panel, to be chaired by ASIC commissioner Belinda Gibson, will advise ASIC on its approach to these new responsibilities.

The panel will also include Lisa Gay, General Counsel, Goldman Sachs JBWere; Grahame Pratt, Co-Head of Markets — Australia, Royal Bank of Scotland; Ross Freeman, Partner, Minter Ellison Lawyers; and Stewart Adams, Director, Responsible Officer and Responsible Executive, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Australia.

These four members of the financial services industry have experience in the legal, compliance, retail and institutional aspects of broking. ASIC senior executives will also join panel meetings, the company said.

ASIC will also continue to seek input from industry and stakeholder associations, such as The Stockbrokers Association of Australia and the Australian Financial Markets Association, and directly from market participants, the company said.

ASIC announced plans to consult publically in the first quarter of 2010 about the rules it will supervise.

The process of planning for the integration of new responsibilities is already underway, ASIC said, while discussions are underway with the ASX to ensure a seamless transition.