An address by ASIC Chairman Jeffrey Lucy to the IFSA Annual Conference:Connect 2006, 2 August 2006, Gold Coast.
Introduction
- Your conference theme this year, 'Connect', recognises that we all play a role in the wealth management and advice industry.
- Government, regulators, industry associations, industry players, consumers of financial services and the wider community alike each have an interest in, and responsibility for, pursuing fair, competitive and efficient markets, which, in turn, leads to sustained confidence.
- A large contributor to our financial markets is our managed funds sector.
- This sector has been gaining volume and momentum over the last couple of decades.
- Total consolidated funds under management has now surpassed $1 trillion, with superannuation funds accounting for over 70% of this and holding some $730 billion in assets.
- IFSA members are responsible for investing over $920 billion of these funds on behalf of more than nine million Australians. Your significance in this, and your role in it, speaks for itself.
- Overall, we think the industry is sound, but today, as always, we all need to strive for continuous improvement. ASIC is no exception; neither is your industry.
- From the regulatory viewpoint, we have moved to the following position over the last 12 months:
- real time regulation with a much greater emphasis on surveillance;
- a strong focus on licensees; and
- utilising key regulatory outcomes – for example, the enforceable undertaking we have accepted from AMP Financial Planning – as clear guidance from which the industry can move forward.
- Today, I will also address some of the key leadership tasks ahead of us as stakeholders working in the interests of together sustaining market confidence and economic growth.