Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law

Australian Law Journal Article by Nicholas Simoes da Silva and Dr William Isdale.

This article is based on the ALRC’s longer Background Paper: Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law (FSL5)

Abstract

This article considers the role that differing understandings of, and approaches to, risk have played in the development of Australian financial services law. In particular, it is argued that there has been a change in the regulatory approach to risk being assumed by Australian consumers, involving greater regulatory intervention in managing and reducing risk. It is argued that legislation concerning prudential and systemic risk regulation has proved to be much more accommodating of such change than has the cornerstone Act of financial services law: the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The article offers lessons that can inform potential law reform – in particular, by highlighting the importance of a clear legislative hierarchy.

Nicholas Simoes da Silva and Dr William Isdale, ‘Risk and Reform in Australian Financial Services Law’ (2022) 96 Australian Law Journal 408.