The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed its intention of using additional Government funding to accelerate action in the financial advice space, including banning actions.
Responding to questions during a hearing of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services earlier this month, ASIC chairman James Shipton defended the use of enforceable undertakings but signalled this did not preclude the use of bannings in the financial advice space.
“… it’s the combination of different tools and responses that will achieve a behavioural change, which is essentially what we’re looking for in the financial advice space,” he said.
“There are a number of different initiatives taking place right now, including the important enforcement work which Ms Macaulay and others are undertaking.
“We have additional funding, as has been mentioned earlier. Part of that additional funding will include work to accelerate the enforcement actions, including banning actions, in the financial advice space,” Shipton said. “Also, which is important, we will be embarking upon extra supervisory work in the financial advice space.”
“We are looking at the continued existence of conflicts of interest in the financial advice space. That particular response needs to be seen in the broader context, which is the utilisation of different tools at different times to achieve behavioural change,” he said.
