ASIC will take on supervisory responsibility for Australia’s domestic licensed financial markets from 1 August 2010, The Government announced yesterday.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will gain responsibility from market operators from this date with the commencement of the Corporations Amendment (Financial Market Supervision) Act 2010. The Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen MP also announced that he intends to consent to ASIC’s market integrity rules and to the consequential changes to the operating rules of the ASX Group.
The Government’s in-principle consent to the ASIC market integrity rules will provide certainty to the market as to the rules that will govern it, according to Mr Bowen.
“The market integrity rules and the new operating rule books for the ASX and SFE will together form the new rules for the ASX and SFE markets from 1 August,” Mr Bowen said.
The move has been welcomed by The Stockbrokers Association of Australia as an important preliminary step in Australia’s move to a multi-market environment.
While the decision marks an important change for Australia’s markets there is still more work to be done following the transition date, said the Managing Director of the Stockbrokers Association David Horsfield.
“Supervisory processes will need to be bedded down, and attention needs to be devoted to refining and removing areas of duplication in the Market Integrity Rules. Protocols will need to be established between ASIC and ASX and other new market operators that may commence operation,” Mr Horsfield.
“Some more detail is also needed on how the cost of market supervision is to be met going forward, in particular, in view of the stated objective that the transition be cost neutral”, Mr Horsfield added.
