Though despite this, last week the Gillard Government informed the market, through Treasurer Wayne Swan, that it will put forward Greg Medcraft as the corporate regulator’s next chairman.
Medcraft has held the position of ASIC commissioner since joining the corporate regulator in 2009.
Medcraft has been a vocal figure in the industry, speaking his mind at last year’s FPA national conference by declaring the profession had “many people who have been operating at the minimum or below the minimum”.
At the time, Medcraft said it was up to Australian financial services licensees and fellow planners to stand up and put a stop to “bad apple” planners.
As well as planners stepping in and putting a stop to the “bad apples”, ASIC this year have stepped up their involvement with the financial advisory sector.
In April, ASIC moved to revamp the assessment and professional development framework for Australia’s financial advisory industry by proposing a number of new initiatives, including a competency exam for financial planners.
The corporate regulator released details of its proposed changes to the industry framework last month in its Consultation Paper 153 Licensing: Training and assessment framework for financial advisers.
“Our review identified concerns about current training standards and highlighted that change is required to increase consumer confidence in the financial advice industry and to encourage professionalism,” Medcraft said at the time.
The corporate regulator said it would also spend time this year looking at the quality of advice provided by licensees to clients through a shadow shopping research.
“Where we have concerns about the appropriateness of advice provided to clients we will review client advice files ourselves and/or require the licensee or an external auditor to audit the quality of advice provided,” an ASIC statement said.
Medcraft’s appointment to the top job, if successful, comes at a time of great change for Australia’s financial services sector.
Late last month, the federal government released its Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms. As the industry digests the impact of the reviews and mounts any opposition to select rulings, Medcraft will surely step into the position with much work ahead of him.
In fact, the timing of his move could perhaps be a double-edge sword for Medcraft.
For D’Aloisio, his career with ASIC will no doubt be blemished by the corporate collapses of Storm Financial and Trio Capital. In both instances, investors lost more than their life savings.
Since the 2005/06 fall of property empire, Westpoint, ASIC has been targeted for its supposed inability to regulate Australia’s financial services sector.
In light of the FOFA reforms, it will no doubt be a time that ASIC continues to be placed under scrutiny.
For many within the industry, it is the hope that a changing of the guard within ASIC will mean a changing of fortunes for the industry. Time will tell.
