Regulation must come with accountability
The recommendations from the Hayne Royal Commission’s to create a new ‘super-regulatory’ body to oversee the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) should come with accountability and appropriate resources, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).
However, the IPA argued, the fundamentals of this process, which would require appropriate funding and resources for the regulators, should be also addressed.
“While on face value, having a regulatory body regulating the regulators may appear a regulatory overkill, if it achieves the desired accountability outcomes, it may have merit,” Andrew Conway, IPA’s chief executive, said.
Also, the institute stressed that further regulatory burden being filtered down on the shoulders of small business operators and, in particular, the research showed that am increasing number of small businesses would continue to be concerned with the impact of laws and regulations on their ability to run their businesses and innovate.
“We also do not want to see the targeting of small targets due to additional pressure placed on ASIC to enforce, while there are more complex and yet, bigger fish to fry,” Conway said.
“Up until recent times, ASIC have had the regulatory teeth on paper but not the resources and funding to actually bite so they should be given the good grace to prove themselves.”
AUTHOR
Oksana Patron
Recommended for you
With regional and rural suburbs exhibiting high spare capacity to invest, Money Management speaks to three regional advisers on the opportunities beyond the major cities and the importance of a strong network.
Platform consolidation is expected to accelerate among financial advisers this year, as software company Finura pinpoints which two platforms are set to be the winners, thanks to this trend.
The software provider has made several appointments in its APAC wealth propositions team, with a focus on driving growth across digital advice, Xplan and strategic partnerships.
The platform has announced it plans to close its Xplore managed discretionary account service in 2026 which holds $2 billion in funds under administration.
