Diplock heralds single Australasian advisory market

Diplock said, in a speech last week, that the mutual recognition of securites offerings (MRSO) agreement signed between New Zealand and Australia last year prefaced even greater co-operation between the two country's financial regulators.

"The mutual recognition of securities offerings underpins the strength of each country's regulatory regime and the co-operative relationship between the two nations," Diplock said. "But it doesn't end there. I believe that we should extend the concept of mutual recognition across the whole panoply of trans-Tasman financial services. An example of this would be in the regulation of financial advisers... We should follow this with mutual recognition of other financial services."

She said the similarity of regulatory regimes in Australia and New Zealand provided an "opportunity for trans-Tasman cooperation and enforcement".

In her speech Diplock said the Securities Commission is already working closely with its trans-Tasman counterpart, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) to establish homogenous capital markets rules "in the interests of a single economic market".