AMP probe: ASIC consults DPP, obtains 600,000 documents
The corporate regulator is consulting with the Director of Public Prosecutions and external counsel over its "long, sophisticated and still ongoing" investigation into AMP, for which it has obtained more than 600,000 documents over the past month, it has revealed to a parliamentary committee.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman James Shipton told the House of Representatives economics committee that ASIC would "carry on and carry through" with the probe into AMP.
Its inquiries relate to revelations - exposed by the banking royal commission in April - that the company charged fees for no service in its financial advice operations and then repeatedly misled the regulator as it investigated the issue.
"This is a very serious matter from ASIC's perspective," ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell told the hearing on Friday. "It's one of the largest financial firms in the country, we need to ensure that firm is operating fairly and efficiently for all Australians."
It emerged at the hearing that the regulator had more than six staff working on its AMP investigation, which it expected to finalise "after September".
Earlier, Mr Shipton warned that ASIC would act proactively and, if necessary, "forcefully" and use "every inch of our powers" to ensure a fair financial system, saying there had been a "lost decade" in Australia's financial services sector when the industry had failed to act on issues like "inherent" conflicts of interest, non-financial risks and a lack of professionalism.
He said there was now an "urgent call to action" for the sector to immediately deal them.
The AMP revelations - which led to the early departure of the company's chief executive and the resignation of its chairman and two directors - have added to recent criticisms of the performance of the corporate regulator, with ASIC admitting to the royal commission that it had not used its powers enough in the scandal-prone financial advice sector.
Counsel assisting the royal commission, Rowena Orr, in April called for criminal charges to be brought against AMP, alleging it had breached criminal provisions for misleading ASIC. She also suggested civil cases could be brought against the big four banks for breaches of the Corporations Act. In response, AMP "strenuously" denied that it may have committed a criminal offence.
Mr Shipton, who has been at the ASIC helm for four months, said the problems within the financial services sector - exposed by a series of scandals in recent years and the recent royal commission hearings - were deeply significant and "extremely confronting" for him and had resulted in the Australian public's confidence in the financial system being "under threat".
But Mr Shipton rejected suggestions that ASIC held some responsibility for this, telling the committee that the regulator had been doing its "extremely best in the circumstances over many years".
But while there were "always lessons to be learned", Mr Shipton said on Friday, "I would not lay blame on ASIC".
His comments came after committee chair and Liberal MP Sarah Henderson noted long-running criticisms that the regulator was too "soft" and "risk-averse" in pursuing major institutions for misconduct.
Mr Shipton said the royal commission had highlighted issues that "ASIC has been dealing with for many years and confronting for many years".
ASIC has been the subject of a long list of recent or planned reforms, including promised new powers for phone tapping and search warrants, and beefed up corporate and civil penalties, as well as product banning powers.
Mr Shipton said the regulator had recently flagged a range of new ideas with the government, including that it install supervisory teams within big financial services firms, that funding for its enforcement activities be boosted, an increased use of technology and a "supervisory focus" in superannuation.