A presentation by Jillian Segal, ASIC Deputy Chair, to the Third Annual Asian Financial Law Conference, Sydney, 20 November 2000
Today's financial marketplace is a very different one from just ten years ago. We have seen the rise of the 'new economy', shaped by huge advances in information technology and its applications. The use of the Internet commercially has become widespread. The general public can now use the Internet to pay their bills, organise their investments, trade securities and buy their insurance. We are witnessing business-to-business projects aimed at cutting many millions in paper processing, along with extensive online business-to-government initiatives.
We have also recently witnessed dramatic falls in the market value of Internet and high tech stocks that were listed on the securities markets over the last 18 months - as the Internet stock bubble has burst.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over half of Australian households have a home computer and one-third have home Internet access1. The Cap Gemini Ernst & Young report on e-commerce in the global financial services industry, released in October 2000, says that the Internet accounted for 3% of financial transactions in 1999. Further, it predicts that the Internet will account for 10% of transactions by 2001 and almost 20% by 2003.
However, I consider that we are still clearly in a stage of transition. While the paperbased world is fast disappearing, and we are moving to a new e-future, we are not there yet.