Joint Media Release - APRA, ASIC and FICA discuss topical issues

The Board of the Finance Industry Council of Australia (FICA) yesterday met with ASIC Commissioners and APRA Members as part of a regular dialogue between the financial sector regulators and the financial services industry.

They discussed a range of current regulatory issues at the international and national level.

These included, at the international level, an IMF proposal to tax financial institutions, the Basel Committee proposals to strengthen global capital and liquidity requirements, and proposals for retention of a financial interest by issuers of securitised instruments.

At the national level, the discussion included the supervision of conglomerate groups, the Government's recently released Future of Financial Advice package, the facilitation of debt raising, transfer of exchange market supervision and executive remuneration in APRA-regulated entities.

Such liaison allows the regulators to brief industry on their current priorities and for an exchange of views on current regulatory issues, particularly those flowing from the international effort to strengthen banking systems in response to lessons learned from the global financial crisis.

FICA comprises the Australian Bankers' Association (ABA), Abacus - Australian Mutuals, Australian Finance Conference (AFC), Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA), Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) and the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

For further comments please call Duncan Fairweather (Chairman), FICA on (02) 9776 7990; Matthew Abbott, ASIC on (02) 9911 2683; Andrew McCutcheon, APRA on (02) 9210 3143.