Speaking to InvestorDaily, Mr Braga said the expectations of his clients have shifted over the past three years.
“Asset managers and super funds are being a lot more careful about who they think is a more active partner to work with them and to help deliver their strategy,” he said.
Along with his ‘day job’ at JP Morgan, Mr Braga also works closely with the Australian Custodial Services Association (ACSA), which appointed him as its chair in late October.
He has been closely involved with consultations with ASIC in regards to Consultation Paper 197: Holding scheme property and other assets, which closed for submissions in March this year and proposed to amend Regulatory Guide 133 on the same subject.
“We’re expecting RG133 to be released really soon. I think in November from what we’ve been hearing,” said Mr Braga.
ACSA expects the corporate regulator to be a lot clearer and more specific about how it expects custodians to provide evidence of ‘custody assets’ – things like bank accounts, private equity, on-market derivatives and on-exchange derivatives, he said.
“The consultation was very thorough. We think ASIC understood the challenges we felt needed to be reflected [in the amended RG133],” said Mr Braga.
He also said ASIC is unlikely to push for a name change for custodians – something that was mooted in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the collapse of Trio Capital/Astarra as well as CP197.
ACSA is also firmly behind ASIC’s push for multiple gatekeeper in the financial services industry with clear, defined roles, said Mr Braga.
“We wanted to make sure through the consultation that there wasn’t any ambiguity about that, and that what’s expected of a custodian makes sense and doesn’t creep into either the expectation of the auditor or the expectation of the responsible entity. We think that was sensibly achieved,” he said.
