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The government has introduced an industry funding model for ASIC instead of taxpayer funding, following a significant budget boost last year.
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Govt looks to relieve regulatory cost for taxpayers
31 March 2017
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9 minute read
The ASIC Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Bill 2017 looks to make the financial services industry more accountable for its behaviour, and boost support for ASIC as corporate regulator.
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“This is the next step in implementing the government’s commitment to recover ASIC’s regulatory costs from the entities that create the need for regulation, rather than the Australian taxpayers, who too often bear the costs of financial sector misconduct,” said Minister for Revenue and Financial Services Kelly O’Dwyer in a statement today.
Liam Shorte, chair for the SMSF Association’s NSW state chapter and director at Verante Financial Planning, believes the change in funding models will only strengthen ASIC’s capabilities as a regulator.
“At the moment, the government is not giving ASIC enough money to do the job they are expecting of them,” said Mr Shorte.
“I know the industry won’t like having to pay for it, but I think we need a strong regulator, and it can’t be held back just because the government budget is under pressure.
“People expect that there is a strong regulator there, and at the moment, they are hampered.”
The change follows the $127.2 million funding package as part of the ASIC Capability Review announced last year.
Mr Shorte is hoping to see ASIC return to the height of its power with the improved funding and regulate the industry equally.
“I would like to see ASIC basically regulating everybody and not just trying to pick low-hanging fruit, that they do take the bigger companies to task,” said Mr Shorte.
“They’ve been concentrating on smaller players now because over the last few years, they’ve really given the major companies, the big four and AMP, a very hard time and they do seem to have internally applied really strong compliance teams so that’s relieved ASIC to then look at the mid-level and smaller players, but that doesn’t look good to the people in the industry.”
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