An address by Alan Cameron, AM, Chairman of ASIC to the Seminar on the Globalisation of Securities, Allen Allen & Hemsley, Sydney, 16 August 1999.
Introduction
International financial markets have, over the last two decades, been transferred by a number of key developments which, for regulators, have posed significant challenges to their traditional notions of jurisdiction, regulation and enforcement.
The most notable of these developments is the rise of Electronic Commerce, catalysed by the globalisation of financial markets. E-commerce has become a fundamental regulatory issue of the late 90's due to the magnitude of financial transactions that are now being conducted over the internet.
To quantify this magnitude; the number of Australian households, with internet access has grown from 4 percent in 1996 to over 13 percent in late 1998, and over one third of households now own a home computer.
The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of ASIC's regulatory responses to these developments and outline some of its recent initiatives relating to the financial services industry. This evening I will briefly discuss:
- the global market
- the growth of e-commerce
- current international regulatory activity
- regional initiatives
- international enforcement.