Reuters to Host 2nd Australian Regulatory Summit in Sydney

FX to be a topic at the 2nd annual summit hosted by Reuters in May

Thomson Reuters announced the 2nd Australian Regulatory Summit will be hosted in Sydney on May 13, 2014, with support from the Australia Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), The Office of The Privacy Commissioner, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Prudential Regulatory Authority (Bank of England) and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The Summit will build on the success of last year’s event by continuing to connect local and regional regulators and policy makers with key stakeholders, business leaders and compliance and risk management professionals from the financial services industry and is expected to attract over 300 senior attendees. A series of panel discussions, presentations and keynote speeches will explore how the themes of regulation, governance, risk and compliance affect business from an enterprise-wide perspective while examining how companies can adopt best-practice approaches to the challenges of driving down costs, enhancing performance and effectively managing risk.

Key topics of focus will include Australia’s regulatory environment and the financial system inquiry, risk culture and market conduct, IT risk, cyber crime and reputational risk, and regulation surrounding FX, identifying and reducing market manipulation risks.

Some of this year’s speakers include Ms. Cathie Armour, Commissioner at ASIC, Keith Chapman, Executive General Manager, Diversified Institutions Division, The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA), Dr Luci Ellis, Head of Financial Stability Department, Reserve Bank of Australia, John Schmidt, CEO at Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) and Mr. Christian Hunt, Chief Operating Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority (Bank of England).

“We are delighted to host this event for the second time in Sydney,” said Leas Bachatene, vice president, Thomson Reuters Risk, Asia Pacific. “According to the latest Thomson Reuters Annual Cost of Compliance Survey, two thirds of compliance practitioners expect the total compliance team budget to increase in 2014 and three quarters of firms believe that more time will be spent managing regulatory risk in the coming year. The survey results reflect the diverse pressures faced by institutions in keeping up with the growing complexity of regulation.”

Other organizations and leading industry practitioners that have confirmed their support for the event include Allen & Overy, Ernst & Young, the CFA Institute, Datawatch and Robert Walters.

“Regulatory issues impact all aspects of financial service organizations, from risk culture right through to operating models and cybercrime,” said Rob Walsh, partner, Financial Services Risk, Ernst & Young. “As organizations focus on the practical aspects of implementation and embedding, Ernst & Young is pleased to be able to help spur the discussion on these important topics through our support of the Australian Regulatory Summit for the second year running.”

“With the Financial Systems Inquiry taking place this year and global regulatory investigations coming to Australia’s shores never has there been a time in the financial services industry where there has been such a large focus on reform of regulation and culture,” said Jason Denisenko, partner, Allen & Overy.

As this event looks to build upon last year’s, it looks likely that this will become a perennial event in Australia to make sure they meet their goals of becoming a 1st class destination for the capital markets and financial industry. As we have been covering, ASIC is under fire from the Australian senate, who Is grilling their performance. Australia and New Zealand don’t want to be seen as faraway places with solid infrastructure in which  companies flee to avoid tough rules and regulations. Continuing these annual summits should send a message that Australia mean business which will attract the top teir and high quality businesses it needs to match its 1st class economy and culture.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.

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