Anyone battling to comply with the Financial Service Reform Act (FSRA) is likely to understand why our panel agreed that Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman David Knott has had a huge influence on the superannuation world over the past year.
As one panel member added: “Love it or hate it, ASIC has a huge influence… It now has teeth.”
Our panel did not consider Knott, who has held the leash of the industry watchdog for two years, to be just a figurehead at ASIC, but rather a very active chair who is extremely involved in setting policy.
Knott says his biggest challenge over the past 12 months has been — and still is — preparing for and implementing the first stages of FSRA. “It has required a lot of management attention, recruitment, the substantial refinement of systems and an enormous commitment to communications with the industry.”
He says issues of conflict and transparency have taken on greater importance for ASIC. “This has been coupled with intense debate on disclosure and the need to ensure that the wide variety of policy changes in the superannuation area do not distract trustees from routine compliance. All of this has resulted in a challenging year.”
He adds that getting disclosure right under FSRA is a new challenge in the area of superannuation. “We have already seen a number of PDSs lodged with us and we’ve had a couple of concerns, particularly in relation to risk statements, disclosure and fees and charges. We will continue to work with the industry in this area.”
Knott was already deputy chairman of ASIC, when he replaced Alan Cameron as chair two years ago. His spare time, he says, is taken up with “music, country life and the occasional reunion with family”.
