Speaking at Finsia’s annual conference in Sydney on Friday, Mr Kell said his boss’s re-election to the helm of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions [IOSCO] was due to the “stable health” of Australia’s financial system.
“ASIC’s chairman has just been re-elected as chair of IOSCO … and part of the reason why an Australian has been elected as chairman is because people are looking at Australia for lessons about managing the financial system,” he said.
Mr Kell’s comments followed on from those of APRA chairman Wayne Byres who said that, compared to many regulatory “jurisdictions around the world”, Australia’s financial system is “in very good shape”.
“The biggest tailwind that we have to our advantage in Australia is we have a sound financial system and core,” Mr Byres said.
“We have a banking and a deposit sector that is profitable, well capitalised, [and has a] low level of bad debts. The insurance industry … is going through various cycles and issues in commercial line, but as a whole [it is well] capitalised and very well positioned through those individual issues,” he said.
Mr Kell also said the regulators, particularly ASIC, are going through a period of “unprecedented scrutiny” due to the number of parliamentary inquiries assessing the industry, “most prominently” the FSI.
“Interestingly, [the FSI] was not called [that] because there was some fundamental problem that is perceived to exist in the financial system,” Mr Kell said.
“I think that if you look at the interim report it doesn’t necessarily call out any huge problems but does point to areas that need attention and areas that I think are of interest to all regulators.”
