A speech by Greg Medcraft, Chairman, Australian Securities and Investments Commission at Systemic Risk, Basel III, Financial Stability and Regulation Conference, Institute of Global Finance, 28 June 2011
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Thank you for this opportunity to speak to this important conference early in my term as ASIC Chairman. I am pleased to be speaking about the important topic of systemic risk and its management and mitigation. But first I will set out ASIC’s strategic framework and our key priorities, so that you can understand our approach.
ASIC under my chairmanship has a continued focus on current business priorities.
ASIC has three key priorities:
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Confident and informed investors and financial consumers
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Fair and efficient financial markets
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Efficient and cost-effective registration and licensing
The main factors guiding our approach to setting priorities are:
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legislative responsibilities;
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systemic or regulatory risk (of course I will address this in greater depth in my speech today);
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stakeholder expectations; and
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government policy.
As I have said, one of the main factors guiding our approach is systemic risk. We are seeking to build resilience in financial markets and the financial system.
Resilience is the capacity to cope with internal and external shocks.
We are strongly motivated by the Benjamin Franklin axiom that ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’.
In essence, we are seeking to be more forward-looking and proactive.