Welcome to the first edition of Regulator for 2010. Hopefully you had a relaxing holiday season and are back in the swing of business.
After a year of guesswork around the future shape of regulatory reform, we are hopefully getting closer to the end game, with a range of government-commissioned reports now handed down and Canberra starting to roll out the relevant legislation. Already this year we have seen options for reform of corporate insolvency laws, the Johnson Report on steps to making Australia a financial services hub, the Productivity Commission's report on executive remuneration and greater powers for ASIC to supervise the market and manage misconduct. Not far off are the Henry and Cooper reviews.
In a number of areas then, it is full speed ahead. However, two blots are the pace of COAG-led reforms and the future of APRA's capital and liquidity guidelines.
In the case of the latter, the banking industry has been understandably concerned about the impact of reforms on their funding requirements and the flow-on effects on the supply and pricing of credit to business and consumers. That noted, it was somewhat encouraging to read Minister Bowen's comments during a speech last month to the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong that in terms of future capital and liquidity requirements, APRA [in implementing internationally agreed standards] "will take account of Australia's particular circumstances". Hopefully, this means that there is still some water to go under this bridge, and that industry and regulators can continue to have a meaningful dialogue about the best way to implement these global requirements in the Australian market.
In the case of the former, the Government seems to have been at pains recently to signal that it understands the need for speed on "seamless economy" reforms that will underpin improved national productivity and our aspirations of being a regional financial centre. Certainly Finance and Deregulation Minister, Lindsay Tanner, made a welcome comment to the AFR this week that it is "critical that there are mechanisms within government to push back against relentless pressure for increasing regulatory burdens on business".
Our particular focus for 2010 will be on bank funding and liquidity, corporate governance and the "new world" for the funds and superannuation industry. Each of them is critical to the functioning of Australia's credit and investment markets and the health of its corporate sector. We look forward to getting your input on these areas over the next few months.
In this edition, John Sullivan and Hayden Flynn analyse the implications of global regulatory reforms for regional fund managers and also review proposals to extend Hong Kong's Takeovers Code to Real Estate Investment Trusts. Tim Bednall provides his perspectives on the Productivity Commission's executive remuneration report and Craig Semple spotlights schemes of arrangement. We are also delighted to welcome Dr Martin Fahy to Regulator as a guest contributor. The FINSIA CEO gave the keynote address at the annual INSTO awards this month,at which Mallesons was named "Law Firm of the Year". You can read more about this award below.
Finally, let me share the names of the winners of our book competition in December. Congratulations to Murray Lord at Challenger, Michelle Smith at ANZ, James Huey at China Corporate Advisory Services, Jeremy Duggan at Computershare Investor Services and Sarah Hoffman at RBS. Congratulations to each of you - we hope you are enjoying Andrew Ross Sorkin's "Too Big to Fail".
Best wishes
Stuart Fuller
Managing Partner
Signpost
INSTO awards Mallesons "Law Firm of the Year"
Mallesons has been named "Law Firm of the Year" at the 11th Annual INSTO Distinction Awards, marking the 5th time we have received this prestigious award.
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Mallesons Competition group named in the elite
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PLC awards top tier ranking to Mallesons teams
Mallesons has been ranked in the top tier in seven categories in the 2010 edition of PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook.
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