Australian regulators are asleep at the wheel when it comes to insider trading, which appears rife says former Optus chief executive Geoffrey Cousins.
Mr Cousins writes in Wednesday's The Bulletin magazine that the two institutions responsible for policing insider trading - the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC) - appear to be lacklustre in their approach.
Mr Cousins pressed the ASX and ASIC for comparable figures to a recent Financial Services Authority study in the UK, which reported that in nearly 25 per cent of company takeovers possible signs of insider trading were detected.
Both the ASX and ASIC were unaware of the study - published in early March - and were unable to supply comparable figures.
Additionally, the ASX said it didn't know how many takeover announcements were made each year, suggesting Mr Cousins check the website of news and financial services provider, Bloomberg.
"By this stage I was developing a concern that there was no effective referee in this game," Mr Cousins wrote.
"Where's the fun in breaking the rules if the linesmen are off having tea?"
After a little more probing, an ASX spokesperson revealed about 25 referrals were made to ASIC each year for investigation.
While ASIC said it conducted its own surveillance into continuous disclose matters, the corporate watchdog conceded the ASX was the main source of information of insider trading.
"No one's keeping count of possible breaches in the most likely areas," Mr Cousins noted.
"The two institutions responsible haven't even heard of a major report into insider trading."
Front page
RSS Feed