Rollover is old enough to remember all those British Carry-On movies so readily understands the concept of “nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more”.
And he notices that the concept seems to have taken hold inside our financial services regulators, but that the joke is likely to be lost on those contributing to the Financial Services levy which keeps our regulatory bureaucrats housed and fed.
First of all it was Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioner, Greg Tanzer, talking about “nudging” financial services participants and then it was his boss, ASIC chairman, Greg Medcraft, telling both an industry conference and then Senate Estimates about the old nudge, nudge.
However Rollover knew that the concept had become viral when it crossed over to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s Helen Rowell.
Barely an hour after Medcraft had been beguiling Senators, Rowell was also nudging things along a bit.
Describing progress with respect to injecting more independent directors onto super fund boards, Rowell said: “I think the industry generally is responding to a heightened governance expectations, given the important role that it plays.
There are a number of funds that are moving voluntarily to implement independent directors at some level, without any nudging needed from us. There are other cases where we are suggesting that it would be worth considering”.
Say no more.
