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Pearce maintains his faith in twin-peak regulation

Shadow Corporate Law Minister Chris Pearce has suggested a parliamentary inquiry is unlikely to find the local financial services sector is in need of reform and has credited the “twin peaks” regulatory system for the sector’s robust health.

Mr Pearce is a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee into Corporations and Financial Services, which has been asked to examine regulation and the cause of recent collapses in Australian financial services and products.

Speaking at an Association of Financial Advisers event last week, he credited the APRA and ASIC regime for helping Australia avoid the kind of failures of financial institutions witnessed in the US and UK.

“The prudential and supervisory framework established in Australia by the former coalition government after the Wallis inquiry in 1997 has held us in good stead,” he said.

“While there may be the need for some targeted legislative changes, it will be interesting to see if there is any real justification for changes to our financial system across the board.”