Australia’s multi-faceted corporate regulatory system can cause the occasional dispute over territory between the various regulators, and last week Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) Chairman John Laker reinforced his organisation’s role in corporate governance.

Making a strong attack on claims that corporate governance is the responsibility of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), he told a Melbourne symposium last week that “this view is plainly wrong”.

Acknowledging that APRA’s governance proposals have been criticised by some as introducing an extra layer of regulation, he said “we do not believe this criticism is well-founded”.

“One claim being made is that governance in Australia is the primary responsibility of other bodies – ASIC, which administers the Corporations Act, and the ASX, which establishes listing requirements for companies listed on the ASX.”

Dr Laker says he has already explained why the governance of regulated institutions cannot be left to the Corporations Act, and why it has not been for many years.

And he doesn’t believe corporate governance can be left to the ASX for one very obvious reason. “Of the over 400 institutions APRA regulates in the deposit-taking and insurance industries, only 18, or 4% are listed companies,” he said.

“Without APRA’s prudential framework, there would be no ‘ambitious’ minimum governance standards… for 96% of regulated financial institutions in Australia.”