ASIC and APRA: chalk and cheese

by Dr. Andrew D. Schmulow

Published electronically by Australian Financial Review (2019).

Much has been written about two recent court defeats suffered by ASIC and APRA. Some of it facile. It is time to set the record straight.

Very briefly, ASIC sued Westpac, alleging reckless mortgage lending. ASIC lost. This was the judgment in which His Honour opined that a borrower could remedy unaffordability by, for example, foregoing their Wagyu beef and Shiraz.

The second involved APRA and directors of IOOF. In particular Christopher Kelaher, the CEO. He admitted before the Royal Commission that IOOF had used member’s money to remunerate members for errors caused by IOOF.

Since then everyone has been piling into ASIC and APRA, asserting they are equally hapless. They are anything but.