ASIC Annual Forum 2024
ASIC’s Annual Forum 2024 brought together over 650 delegates, including business, regulatory and consumer representatives to discuss the financial challenges impacting Australians, across generations.
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Our speakers
Program schedule
9.00 am to 9.10 am
Official welcome
Michael Stutchbury, Former Editor-in-Chief, AFR (Forum Facilitator)
Amelia Brace, Journalist (Forum Facilitator)
9.10 am to 9.15 am
Welcome to country
Aunty Joan Bell, Board member, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council
9.15 am to 9.40 am
Opening address
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
9.40 am to 10.00 am
Introduction to the theme
Danielle Wood, Chair, Productivity Commission
10.00 am to 11.00 am
Plenary session 1: State of the economy
Join ASIC Chair Joe Longo, Governor of the RBA Michele Bullock, CEO of the Future Fund Raphael Arndt, and CEO of Telstra Vicki Brady, in a discussion on the current state of the economy from a macro perspective. Here we will explore the implications of the current economic landscape on various segments of society including consumers, businesses and Government. In doing so, we will also consider the matters ASIC should account for in effectively fulfilling its regulatory mandate now and into the future.
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
Michele Bullock, Governor, RBA
Dr Raphael Arndt, CEO, Future Fund
Vicki Brady, CEO and Managing Director, Telstra
11.00 am to 11.30 am
Morning break
11.30 am to 12.30 pm
Plenary session 2: Enforcement priorities
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court will present ASIC’s enforcement priorities for 2025 and reflect on the agency’s work in 2024.
Ms Court will then be joined by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Raelene Sharp KC, and AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw APM, to discuss the evolving financial crime law enforcement landscape in Australia.
The session will explore the impact of current economic pressures on consumer behaviour, the effectiveness of current laws, and the thresholds and challenges for decisions about actions each agency takes to uphold the law and protect Australians.
Sarah Court, Deputy Chair, ASIC
Raelene Sharp KC, Director, CDPP
Reece Kershaw APM, Commissioner, AFP
12.30 pm to 1.30 pm
Lunch break
1.30 pm to 2.30 pm
Plenary session 3: Access to financial services
Access to cash, transactional accounts and credit affect us all on an almost daily basis. Many Australians have chosen to access these services through digital channels. Can consumers expect a certain minimum level of service? Is the system designed to effectively deal with shocks? This session will explore different levels of access to services across different generations and socio-economic positions. With the financial landscape in Australia changing, given the introduction of new players, access issues have shifted and become more complex. Join us as we put consumers – of all walks to life – at the centre of the debate.
Kate O’Rourke, Commissioner, ASIC
Matt Comyn, CEO, CBA
Stephanie Tonkin, CEO, CALC
Chrysty Esperanza, CLO, Block, Inc
Dr Angela Jackson, Lead Economist, Impact Economics and Policy
2.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Plenary session 4: Navigating climate challenges to ensure access to affordable insurance
Join us to explore the challenges and opportunities the general insurance industry faces, given the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events. What does this mean for the affordability and accessibility of general insurance into the future? The effect of such events is often felt unequally, depending upon socio-economic status. How can we learn from overseas experiences and Australia’s response to recent events to address these issues?
Alan Kirkland, Commissioner, ASIC
Julia Davis, Senior Policy & Communications Officer, Financial Rights Legal Centre
Sharanjit Paddam, Principal, Finity Consulting
Andrew Hall, CEO, Insurance Council of Australia
3.30 pm to 4.00 pm
Afternoon break
Elective session: 1A
How Millennials and Gen Z Invest
Millennials are now in their prime working age. Their minds are turning to how to invest for the future. Gen Z are now coming up to ten years after leaving school and are also navigating their way through the financial system.
Both generations are faced with not only an array of investment options including international and domestic shares, exchange traded funds (ETFs), managed funds, hybrid securities, term deposits, and crypto, to name only some, but also different platforms for engaging with them, as well as influences on their behaviour.
Join our panel of experts as they explore the how and why, backed by data, behind retail consumers’ preferences for a variety of investment vehicles and online platforms when deciding where to put their money in 2024 and beyond.
Speakers:
Andrew Templer, SEL Market Conduct, ASIC
Dr Irene Guiamatsia, Head of Research, Investment Trends
Chris Brycki, Founder and CEO, Stockspot
Gemma Dale, Director, NAB
Elective session: 1B
AI Recap: What’s happened, and what’s next?
AI is already enhancing many aspects of our lives, but the rapid pace of its innovation can introduce new risks, leading to uncertainty and raising public concerns. As AI continues to permeate into business and financial services, understanding these risks as well as its potential is crucial. This session will provide a recap of the major developments in AI throughout 2024, and the current rational on how advancements in AI are shaping the way governments, regulators, and industry are thinking about their roles and how they perform them into the future. Our experts will consider these factors against the backdrop of the Government’s work on supporting safe and responsible AI practices in Australia, as well as international developments such as the European Union’s AI Act.
Speakers:
Graham Jefferson, SEL, Data, Analytics and AI, ASIC
SJ Price, Partner, Stirling & Rose
Prof Edward Santow, Co-Director, Human Technology Institute
Prof Jeannie Marie Paterson, University of Melbourne
Elective session: 1C
Climate reporting
The biggest changes to periodic corporate reporting in a generation, the mandatory sustainability reporting regime, will commence in early 2025. As Australia moves to join the ever-growing ranks of jurisdictions with mandatory climate disclosure, many larger entities have been preparing for this regime for some time. Join us as we consider what challenges reporting entities face, what opportunities might arise, and the factors that have set them up for success.
Speakers:
Claire LaBouchardiere, SEL Companies and Small Business, ASIC
Ming Long AM, Deputy Chair, CSIRO
Karen McWilliams, Leader, CA ANZ
Andrew Stevens, Non-executive Director, Stockland Group Limited
5.15pm to 9.30pm
ASIC Annual Dinner
5.15 pm to 6.30 pm
Registration and pre-dinner drinks
6.30 pm to 6.40 pm
Welcome address
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
7.30 pm to 8.00 pm
Dinner address
Dr Aruna Sathanapally, CEO, Grattan Institute
9.30 pm
Close
8.55 am to 9.00 am
WELCOME TO DAY 2
Michael Stutchbury, Former Editor-in-Chief, AFR (Forum Facilitator)
Amelia Brace, Journalist (Forum Facilitator)
9.00 am to 10.00 am
Plenary session 5: Meet the regulators
Australians of all generations are facing a range of significant challenges. Cross-border tensions, the advent of new digital technologies, climate change, and the ever-changing economic environment impact all Australians. These challenges sit against the backdrop of a complex financial services regulatory landscape that includes consumer protection, prudential supervision, anti-money laundering, and competition. This panel will explore these issues, and how we can bridge the gap between these challenges and the financial services regulatory framework from an intergenerational perspective.
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair, ACCC
John Lonsdale, Chair, APRA
Brendan Thomas, CEO, AUSTRAC
10.00 am to 11.00 am
Plenary session 6: The impact of superannuation on evolving markets
This session will focus on how superannuation funds are influencing and changing the landscape of capital markets in Australia, drawing expert perspective from across the markets ecosystem. We will explore the changing nature of private and public markets and the role these funds play in shaping them, focusing on issues such as transparency, accountability and consistency. As these funds grow in size, their influence on capital raising increases, positioning them as significant players within financial markets with expanded stewardship responsibilities. Our panel of experts will discuss the responsibilities of super funds as agents that manage vast sums of money on behalf of their members. It will also address the changing needs of their different members.
Simone Constant, Commissioner, ASIC
Rob Whitfield AM, Director, CBA and Transurban Group
Michael Dwyer AM, Chairperson, Board of Directors, T Corp
Peter Warne, Chair, IPH Ltd, Non-Executive Director, UniSuper
11.00 am to 11.30 am
Morning break
Elective session: 2A
Scams and cyber
From scams to cyber threats, both regulation and law enforcement require a whole of ecosystem approach. It does not matter whether it is a data breach or a scam, anyone can be impacted, regardless of your generation. This session will discuss how we all fit and work together in a rapidly changing environment and what our coordinated priorities are in relation to scams and cyber. Join our experts to explore solutions and what is next over the horizon.
Speakers:
David McGuinness, SEL Enforcement & Compliance, ASIC
Jayde Richmond, General Manager, ACCC
LTGEN Michelle McGuinness CSC, National Cyber Security Coordinator, Department of Home Affairs
Rosie Thomas, Director, CHOICE
Ben Young, Head of Fraud, Westpac Group
Elective session: 2B
Institutional Tokenisation
The rise of tokenisation as a means of digitally representing tangible or intangible assets on a blockchain comes with promises of making financial markets and trading faster, cheaper, more transparent and robust. However, like any new technology and infrastructure, there are both benefits and risks, and a range of interesting new issues and public policy questions. Our panel of experts will explore the likely impact of blockchain and similar technologies on the financial market and financial products. They will discuss what barriers, if any, there are to the adoption of this technology – commercial, policy, or regulatory. Join us as we discuss institutional usage of digital assets and tokenisation across a range of areas including CBDCs, financial market infrastructure, tokenisation of real-world assets, and how policymakers and regulators are responding to innovation in this area.
Speakers:
Dr Rhys Bollen, SEL Digital Assets, ASIC
Dr Brad Jones, Assistant Governor, RBA
Sophie Gilder, Managing Director, CBA
Prof Ross Buckley, Scienta Professor, UNSW
Elective session: 2C
Governance in a Changing World
Decisions made by boards and senior executives of corporations are critically important as they have flow-on effects for the company, their clients, suppliers, consumers more generally, and ultimately, the Australian economy. Developments in AI, cyber threats, and the mandatory climate disclosure reforms mean greater complexity in the decision-making process. Driving good governance in companies, will strengthen confidence in them.
Our regulatory system attempts to mandate good governance through directors’ duties and the new obligations imposed by the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) on authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), super funds and insurers. Hear our panel of experts explore what good governance looks like in a changing world.
Speakers:
Jane Eccleston, (Acting) ED, Regulation and Supervision, ASIC
David Thodey AO, Chair, Xero Limited
Louise Davidson AM, CEO, ACSI
12.30 pm to 12.45 pm
CLOSING REMARKS
Joe Longo, Chair, ASIC
12.45pm to 1.45pm
Lunch
