A regular blog providing analysis and commentary of conduct news and issues affecting the Australian financial services industry.
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Retail Market Conduct Reforms in South Africa Under Twin Peaks
Journal Articles, SSRN, Working Papersby Dr. Andrew D. Schmulow
Law and Financial Markets Review, Vol. 11, no. 4, 2018, pp: 163-173.
This article examines retail market regulatory reforms currently underway, as part of the implementation of a Twin Peaks regulatory model in South Africa. A brief account is provided of the history of these reforms, followed by an analysis of the normative goals put in place for a new market conduct and consumer protection regime; and the developmental needs that inform those goals. Thereafter the article explores the inter-relationship between the existing credit regulator and the soon to be established Financial Sector Conduct Authority. An analysis is then provided of accountability mechanisms, as well as failures exhibited by those mechanisms in the UK and Australia. Finally an argument is made for a “regulator for the regulators”, in order to address past regulatory failures.
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Also published in SSRN Journal and as a working paper in “University of Western Australia – Faculty of Law Research Paper Series“.
Regulating the Regulator : Improving Consumer Protection under a Twin Peaks Regulatory Framework
Journal Articles, SSRNby Dr. Andrew D. Schmulow
International Review of Financial Consumers, Vol. 3, no. 1, 2018, pp: 1-14.
Australia is in the midst of a financial regulatory crisis. Evidence of malpractice, fraud, criminality, contempt for the law, and the abuse of consumers on an industrial scale, all while Australia’s Twin Peaks regulators looked on, has come as a shocking surprise. The implications stretch well beyond Australia: they are relevant wherever the Australian ’Twin Peaks’ model has been adopted or is under consideration. This article argues that the Twin Peaks model must be analysed from the perspective of regulatory design, as well as implementation. The design – the architecture of Twin Peaks – remains optimal. However the implementation – the plumbing – requires urgent reforms. Drawing on the work of notable international scholars, this article proposes a new accountability framework for the two, peak regulators, in order to enhance their efficacy. In the process of rescuing Twin Peaks from its current inadequate plumbing, consumers may expect to enjoy levels of protection commensurate with those of a developed economy possessed of rule of law.
Compatible with Endnote / RefWorks / Mendeley etc.
Also published in SSRN Journal.
Twin Peaks 2.0: reforming Australia’s financial regulatory regime in light of failings exposed by the Banking Royal Commission
Journal Articles, SSRNby Dr. Andrew D. Schmulow, Dr. Karen Fairweather and Prof. John Tarrant
Law and Financial Markets Review, Vol. 12, no. 4, 2018, pp: 193-202.
In November 2017 the Federal government established a Royal Commission into Australia’s financial services industry that has become widely known as the Banking Royal Commission. The Commission has, during its hearings, and in its recent Interim Report, exposed serious misconduct and poor regulation in Australia’s financial services industry. The authors argue that the recommendation of the 2014 Financial System Inquiry that there be an Assessment Board to provide continuous oversight of the financial regulators, APRA and ASIC, is an effective solution to the regulatory failures exposed by the Banking Royal Commission. The benefits to Australia of the establishment of an Assessment Board are clear, and include enhanced accountability, improvements in the regulator’s culture, prevention of regulatory capture, and enhanced capacity to prevent financial crises. The introduction of an Assessment Board in Australia would serve as a timely and highly effective adjunct to the current Australian Twin Peaks financial regulatory architecture comprising APRA and ASIC.
Compatible with Endnote / RefWorks / Mendeley etc.
Also published in SSRN Journal.