The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) recently received a new set of regulatory tools from the Australian parliament.
The ASIC was given more authority and the financial watchdog is now using that authority to make a number of changes.
The ASIC has suddenly asked brokers for a large amount of data which must detail how exactly their businesses operate. Firms that operate in Australia are now required to submit to the ASIC, their client numbers before and after December 2017.
Additionally, their client types and jurisdiction of residence are to be included, as well as how much money they hold in various jurisdictions.
Experts agree that the data request is pretty specific and hints at exactly what ASIC is looking for. Asking for 2017 data means that the regulator is planning to track something that happened from 2017 to now. This may be in reference to what the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has done to its market in the same time period. The data can show how it affected the markets in general
Additional breakdowns of the data like age and income bracket hint that the ASIC may want to see what sort of clients are entering the Australian market. It can also be related to why brokers are supposed to submit data on how many clients they transferred from overseas in the period between January 2018 and March 2019.
ASIC is also looking to get deeper into the transactions and operations of brokers. The data request also asked for whether brokerage employees were paid in relation to how well their clients performed. Some of the other information requested include 2017 and 2018 data on customer turnover as well as details like how much they earned in each asset class. The amount of data being requested by the ASIC has caused a bit of unrest with Aussie brokers.
Different From the European Approach
England’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also did something similar but the ASIC data request is more thorough. The data request from the ASIC is a lot more specific and detail oriented. Given the amount of data the ASIC has requested, it is going to take brokers a lot of time to gather all of the requested data.
The ASIC approach to ask for data before implementing anything is highly different from its European counterparts. Most European regulators only asked for this sort of info after ESMA implemented their rules.
When the data is collected and reviewed, analysts expect ASIC to formulate restrictions and a regulatory framework, determining what seems to be the most effective approach.