Formation of Financial services export body urged
The Financial Services Council (FSC) has called for the Government to clear further barriers to Australian financial services exports, including the formation of a Government-backed coordination body.
Opening the FSC conference in Cairns, FSC chairman and Schroders chief executive, Greg Cooper, acknowledged those elements of the Johnson Review which had been implemented by the successive governments but suggested that Australia had nonetheless found itself falling behind the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore.
"Australia urgently requires a coordination body to be established to progress international financial integration and to promote Australian financial services in the Asia Region," he said. "The City of London and the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council provide templates which Australia can draw upon."
Cooper said the body to be established in Australia should be resourced by government "and must have power in legislation to deal with tax and regulatory issues affecting the industry".
He said that for the body to be effective it must also have advisory representatives from industry and be housed in the Treasury portfolio.
Cooper said consumers, both domestic and overseas, were demanding financial services in the same way that they demand other goods and services.
"Selling financial services to individuals or companies outside Australia is as much an export as selling iron ore or coal," he said. "And the fees these services generate become wages for those employed, profits for shareholders and tax revenue for governments. This demand grows with the wealth of a country and the average age of its population as the need for financial products to manage savings and retirement incomes grows."
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