Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Statutory oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission February 2011 © Commonwealth of Australia 2011 ISBN 978-1-74229-405-6 Printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra ii Members of the Committee Mr Bernie Ripoll, Chairman QLD ALP Senator Sue Boyce, Deputy Chair QLD LP Senator Annette Hurley SA ALP Senator the Hon Ursula Stephens NSW ALP Senator Mathias Cormann WA LP Mr Paul Fletcher MP NSW LP Mr Hon Alan Griffin MP VIC ALP Ms Laura Smyth MP VIC ALP Mr Tony Smith MP VIC LP SECRETARIAT Dr Ian Holland, Secretary Dr Robyn Clough, Principal Research Officer Ms Erin East, Principal Research Officer Ms Christina Schwarz, Administrative Officer Ms Ruth Edwards, Administrative Officer Suite SG.64 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 T: 61 2 6277 3583 F: 61 2 6277 5719 E: [email protected] W: www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/corporations_ctte iii Duties of the Committee Section 243 of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 sets out the Parliamentary Committee's duties as follows: (a) to inquire into, and report to both Houses on: (i) activities of ASIC or the Panel, or matters connected with such activities, to which, in the Parliamentary Committee's opinion, the Parliament's attention should be directed; or (ii) the operation of the corporations legislation (other than the excluded provisions), or of any other law of the Commonwealth, of a State or Territory or of a foreign country that appears to the Parliamentary Committee to affect significantly the operation of the corporations legislation (other than the excluded provisions); and (b) to examine each annual report that is prepared by a body established by this Act and of which a copy has been laid before a House, and to report to both Houses on matters that appear in, or arise out of, that annual report and to which, in the Parliamentary Committee's opinion, the Parliament's attention should be directed; and (c) to inquire into any question in connection with its duties that is referred to it by a House, and to report to that House on that question. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Membership of Committee iii Duties of the Committee iv Chapter 1 - Statutory oversight ......................................................................... 1 Gathering evidence ................................................................................................. 1 Additional information ........................................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 - Issues raised with ASIC ................................................................. 3 Expansion of ASIC's responsibilities .................................................................... 3 ASIC's response to Storm Financial ....................................................................... 7 Issues arising from the Global Financial Crisis ...................................................... 8 Complaints-handling ............................................................................................ 11 Financial literacy .................................................................................................. 12 Appendix 1 - Public hearing ............................................................................. 15 Appendix 2 - Answers to questions on notice ................................................. 17 v Abbreviations ASIC Australian Securities and Investments Commission ASIC Act Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 AUASB Auditing and Assurance Standards Board AASB Australian Accounting Standards Board CALDB Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board CAMAC Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee Corporations Act Corporations Act 2001 FMA Act Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 FRC Financial Reporting Council IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards Chapter 1 Statutory oversight 1.1 The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services was established by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001. Section 243 specifies the committee's duties, which include: (a) to inquire into, and report to both Houses on: (i) the activities of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) … or matters connected with such activities, to which, in the Parliamentary Committee's opinion, the Parliament's attention should be directed … 1.2 This report is presented in execution of the committee's duty under section 243(a)(i). Gathering evidence 1.3 The committee held a public hearing on 23 June 2010 in Canberra to examine matters falling within ASIC's regulatory jurisdiction. On 19 July 2010 the Governor- General prorogued the 42nd Parliament and dissolved the House of Representatives. As a result of this, the committee was unable to furnish a report. 1.4 On 24 November 2010 the newly appointed committee of the 43rd Parliament held an oversight public hearing in Canberra. 1.5 This report reflects evidence taken at both of these hearings. The witnesses who gave evidence are listed in Appendix 1. A copy of the Hansard transcript from the hearing has been tabled for the information of the Parliament and is available on the committee's website.1 Additional information 1.6 A number of questions were placed on notice at both hearings. Those questions, and ASIC's responses to them, are published in Appendix 2. 1 www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/corporations_ctte/asic/index.htm Chapter 2 Issues raised with ASIC 2.1 The committee discussed a number of issues with ASIC at its oversight hearings on 23 June and 24 November 2010. These included: • Expansion of ASIC's responsibilities; • ASIC's response to the collapse of Storm Financial; • Issues arising from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC): • Potential for a unique client identifier system • Freezing of investor funds • Regulatory reform; • Complaints handling; and • Financial literacy. Expansion of ASIC's responsibilities 2.2 ASIC's regulatory responsibilities have increased over time. Recently, ASIC has assumed responsibility for the following functions: • Market supervision; • Regulation of consumer credit; and • National Business Names Register. Market supervision 2.3 On 1 August 2010 ASIC took over responsibility from the ASX for supervision of real-time trading on Australia's domestic licensed markets. The ASX has retained the 'issuers function, the listings function and the continuous disclosure function'.1 To enable real-time trading supervision, ASIC has an integrated market surveillance system (SMARTS) in place, which mirrors the system used by the ASX. A number of ASX surveillance staff moved across to ASIC on 1 August: ...23 or about that number came from the ASX. We already had a number at ASIC who had been at ASX in the past and we have others with market experience.2 2.4 As noted in an earlier committee report, it was considered that the new arrangement would 'counter perceptions of conflict of interest faced by the ASX' in its dual role of market operator and watchdog. It was noted that the perception could be 1 Ms Belinda Gibson, Deputy Chairman, ASIC, Committee Hansard, 24 November 2010, p. 24. 2 Ms Gibson, Committee Hansard, 24 November 2010, p. 24. Page 4 exacerbated when competition for domestic trading markets services is opened up. Had the change not been made, ASX would have had oversight of its competitors.3 2.5 Ms Belinda Gibson, Deputy Chair, ASIC, informed the committee that the transition from the ASX to ASIC went according to plan. She reflected positively on the process to-date: The integration process has gone well over the last four months and we are now at the position where we are monitoring the market real-time. We are assessing an average of about 300 alerts a day where there is some questionable activity or questionable conduct that requires greater analysis.4 2.6 Ms Gibson noted that, with respect to monitoring of broker conduct, 'the time from identification of a problem through to formal investigation has decreased' since ASIC took on this supervisory function. As she observed: That is a benefit of the change in supervision program. It is telescoping the analysis ASX did and the analysis we did into the one exercise.5 2.7 While it is expected that further efficiencies will be achieved, Mr Tony D'Aloisio, Chairman, ASIC, commented that it would take another six to twelve months before the benefits of the new arrangements can be fully assessed.6 2.8 The committee has noted that ASIC is consulting on reforms to market structure and surveillance; this was foreshadowed in one of the oversight hearings.7 The consultation paper was released in November 2010. The media release for the consultation paper lists the following proposals for reform: new controls to curb extreme price movements and to require transparent cancellation arrangements – [ASIC's] response to the 'flash crash' enhanced controls for direct electronic access and algorithmic trading – in response to the increasingly pervasive role of technology formal obligations on market participants – to deliver best execution to clients minimum disclosure about order and trade information – to promote efficient price formation on markets and reduce incentives for trading to shift to ‘dark pools’ consolidation of market data across all execution venues – to ensure whole of market transparency 3 Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, Statutory Oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments