Gatekeeper roles looking to form part of custodian regulations are not a change to existing roles, according to ASIC.
Speaking at the 2013 Investment Administration Conference, ASIC senior executive leader investment managers and superannuation Ged Fitzpatrick said that a proposal asking custodians to act as gatekeepers is not a change to their current obligations.
“By gatekeepers we are talking about a particular context of the goal of a gatekeeper as one of a number of gatekeepers throughout the financial services community and throughout the service of a financial services transaction,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“I think it is very important to note that we are not talking about a shift of role, we are talking about an expectation generally of an existing role.
“Particularly in the context of the sole responsible entity regime, we’re not talking about changing the settings of that.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said that regulating the sector was part of a “building blocks approach” to reviewing the entire regulation space.
However, the Australian Custodial Services Association (ACSA) have said that proposed obligations for custodians to act as gatekeepers raised questions regarding the necessity of multiple watchdogs.
ACSA also said that the requirements may confuse the obligations of the custodian to the responsible entity and complicate the relationship between these two parties.
REST Industry super general manager of investments Jo Townsend said that it will also be important that the role of custodians evolves with the needs of clients and a changing industry environment.
“There will be more funds under management in the system, there will be more regulation and internal teams within super, funds will have more resources than ever in terms of their capabilities and managing the custodian relationship, as well as with dealing with increasing levels of operational complexity,” she said.
“Super funds will look for partners not just service providers and the relationship must be capable of evolving over time.”
