The review of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was announced by assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday and is expected to take until the end of the year to be completed.
Frydenberg said the inquiry will be headed by a panel of three independent experts who have extensive public and private sector experience as well as an understanding of the industries regulated by ASIC.
“ASIC’s responsibilities have increased over time to now include regulatory supervision and enforcement of company and financial services laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors,” the minister said in a statement.
“The expert panel will be supported by a team of public and private sector personnel, and will provide a final report to Government by the end of 2015,” Frydenberg said.
The findings of the capability review will be used by the government to help it decide whether ASIC’s regulatory activities should be funded by the industry.
NAB compensation
Meanwhile ASIC has announced that the National Australia Bank’s wealth management business will pay approximately 62,000 of its customers A$25m (£11.8m, $18.2m, €16.6m) in compensation for errors on its Navigator Wrap platform.
The compensation plan follows earlier action by the regulator to ensure around 2,300 clients of Macquarie Bank’s asset management arm received a refund over of A$5.5m for errors on its wrap platform.
ASIC also succeeded in securing a refund to customers of the BT Financial Group (BT) after it discovered that some of its Wrap and SuperWrap customers have been paying adviser fees in excess of disclosed percentage ranges.
