Key points

• The future direction of our public and private markets affects almost every Australian – and will undoubtedly help shape our economy.
• We have a window of opportunity to design the public markets we want to see – and grease the wheels a bit to get public listings moving.
• At the same time, we are at a turning point that could alter the trajectory of private markets to instil further market integrity and confidence.

Introduction

Good evening, everyone. It’s good to see the room just about full.

I’d like to welcome you to ASIC’s Symposium on Australia’s Public and Private Markets and acknowledge all of our guests. This is the second symposium ASIC is doing, and I hope it will be a permanent feature of our work. Some of you might remember last year we did a symposium on AI – a subject we’ll no doubt have to return to at some point.

Tonight, you’ll be hearing from market participants interacting directly with ASIC to answer a very significant question – where do we go from here?

This question affects almost every Australian. Every worker saving for their future retirement. Every mum-and-dad investor trying to get ahead. And every entrepreneur with the next great idea.

ASIC’s role in this discussion

On that, many of our conversations have focused on whether ASIC has a role in regulating private markets. I want to be clear that ASIC is in no rush to regulate.

The intent of this work has always been to sharpen our understanding of private markets. The very significant capital in this part of the system is made up of Australians’ superannuation and insurance monies, so quite frankly it is in the public interest that ASIC take a closer look and lead the debate.

So far what we have heard is that there is an openness to increased supervision and consistent standard-setting across areas like valuations, managing conflicts of interest and fee disclosure.

But fundamentally we need to be very clear about the problem we are solving before jumping to regulation. I’ve said many times before regulatory complexity is a problem in Australia, and we need to simplify our approach.

Today ASIC is moving from listening mode to action mode

I’m pleased to say that as a result of our consultation, there are many actionable ideas on the table.

Ideas to help make our markets more open, more accessible, and more attractive.

We’re now looking at which ones we can bring to the front burner to fuel growth and activity in our markets. We’re moving from listening to action.

This morning’s announcement about changes to the IPO process is an example – and I hope the beginning of several more.

This change reflects feedback that while our regulatory guardrails are sound, it’s time to grease the wheels a bit to get public listings moving.

So, we are creating a more streamlined IPO process which reduces the execution risks associated with listing.

The trial will commence immediately, and I’m pleased to say we’ve already received enquiries from interested parties.

While regulatory settings aren’t a silver bullet, I'm proud of how quickly we've been able to mobilise our teams on simple, common-sense solutions supported by industry – and there’ll be more to come.

I should call out, by the way, the various people in the market who worked so closely with ASIC to get us to where we were this morning. There’s a lot of goodwill and professionalism reflected in that engagement.

We will continue to engage and work with industry, Treasury, our peers at other Australian regulators – some of whom are here tonight – and broader stakeholders.

Looking ahead to next steps, we’ll share our views on how to strengthen our public markets during quarter three of this year.

And in quarter four we’ll announce our proposed roadmap for private markets.

This work will be supported in the coming months by our ongoing surveillances, views from market experts and ongoing stakeholder feedback.

To wrap up.

While many of the responses to our discussion paper focused on the here and now, it is critical that we keep an eye on the medium to longer term horizon.

This could be a watershed moment for Australia’s markets.

We have a window of opportunity to design the public markets we want to see, not just tomorrow but in five- and 10-years’ time.

And we’re at a turning point that could alter the trajectory of private markets to instil further market integrity and confidence.

From here on, our work must look ahead.

Conclusion

As a modern, confident, ambitious regulator, ASIC is proud to be leading these issues of the day which will undoubtedly help shape Australia’s economy, so that it is fit for the future.

I am looking forward to this evening’s discussions. Thank you.