Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson also wants donations from major banks and financial planners to go into victims compensation fund

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Greens have written to request the auditor general investigate the declaration of interest and conflict of interest policies of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.



The letter says the investigation is necessary after concerns “raised in the media in regards to the potential conflicts of interests between former Asic chairman Greg Medcraft and the, currently stood aside, senior counsel for AMP, Brian Salter.”



The banking royal commission heard last week that Salter had helped to draft an “independent” report on AMP – written by his former firm Clayton Utz – about AMP’s practice of charging customers fees without providing any service, before the report was handed to the regulator.

The commission heard the report had gone through 25 drafts, after more than 700 emails were exchanged between AMP and Clayton Utz, and that Salter had revised the wording of the report to remove the name of AMP’s chief executive, Craig Meller.

Salter was stood aside last week as AMP’s general counsel, a position he has held since 2008.

He was also stood aside as a member of Asic’s external Financial Services and Credit Panel whose members advise Asic on whether to make banning orders against financial planners. Salter – who was best man at Medcraft’s wedding – had interactions with Asic commissioners as a member of that advisory panel.

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In a letter seen by Guardian Australia, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson has written to the auditor general, Grant Hehir, requesting an investigation of Asic’s declaration-of-interest and conflict-of-interest policies across the entire organisation, “particularly for commissioners and senior staff”.



He asks that attention be drawn to how Asic manages and declares such potential conflicts of interest when commissioners are personal friends with individuals under scrutiny.

“It is plain that the public might view the role of Medcraft having regulatory interactions with Salter, and the appointment of Salter to an Asic panel, as a potential conflict that needs to be declared and managed,” the letter says.

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“I am not in a position to determine whether this conflict was declared and how it was managed if declared because there appears to be no public documentation or comments on this matter.

“I am not suggesting there was any wrongdoing involved from either person mentioned but I am suggesting that work needs to draw attention to how such potential conflicts are declared and managed.

“I would like you to examine how conflicts are managed in Asic when dealing with them as regulator, where Asic staff or commissioners provide oversight where friends or former colleagues may be in senior positions, and also how conflicts are managed when such people are appointed to government panels.”

In 2015 the commonwealth ombudsman recommended Asic review its conflict of interest policies after a former employee alleged it had been unduly influenced by the Investment and Financial Services Association (IFSA) when granting regulatory relief for superannuation calculators in 2005.

The ombudsman found “no evidence” to suggest that Asic’s decision to grant relief was contaminated by conflict of interest or other undue influence, but it criticised Asic for failing to “comply with its own internal policies for dealing with conflicts of interest”.

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Whish-Wilson has also called on the Coalition and Labor to stop taking donations from banks and financial advisers under scrutiny at the banking royal commission.

According to Australian Electoral Commission donations data, cross-matched with the Greens’ Democracy for Sale database, groups falling within the remit of the royal commission’s terms of reference have donated at least $15m to the Coalition and Labor, at the federal level, over the last decade.

They include commercial banks, insurance agencies, financial advisers, wealth managers and lobby groups for the financial services industry.

Since 2008-09, the big four banks and AMP alone have donated $3.8m to the federal Liberal and National parties and Labor.

The Greens say they do not accept donations from major banks or financial services entities.

National Australia Bank stopped making political donations to the Coalition and Labor in May 2016, saying it wanted to be “respected as a bank”.

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That didn’t stop it coming under fire last month after the royal commission heard evidence of NAB staff being involved in an alleged bribery ring between 2013 and 2016, which covered multiple branches.

Whish-Wilson said the major parties should place political donations from major banks and financial planners into a compensation fund for victims.

“On the one hand Labor and Liberals are now happy to criticise financial service companies for their conduct. On the other hand they have been just as happy to accept their donations. What does this say to the public about their parties’ ethical standards?” he said.

“I am calling on all political parties to stop taking political donations from big finance immediately and for the parties to place any donations they have received into a victims compensation fund.

“Political parties shouldn’t be profiting from the banks and the likes of AMP while victims are currently left uncompensated.”

