Banking royal commission: ASIC chair James Shipton makes surprise appearance at Darwin hearings

ASIC chair James Shipton has made a surprise appearance as an onlooker at today’s royal commission hearing in Darwin.

ASIC chairman James Shipton (r) and ASIC regional commissioner for the Northern Territory Duncan Poulson.

James Shipton, new chairman of the corporate watchdog, has made a surprise appearance as an onlooker at today’s royal commission hearing in Darwin.

Kenneth Hayne’s rolling year-long inquiry is holding a week of hearing in the Northern Territory capital to probe cases of misconduct in financial services companies’ dealing with indigenous Australians.

Mr Shipton, who recently took over as chair of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, is sitting in on this morning’s session, watching over his employee Nathan Boyle, who will be outlining the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders when interacting with banks and insurers.

In the morning today, before moving to case studies, the royal commission will also call Lynda Edwards of Financial Counselling Australia, to help lay the land before drilling into one of the nation’s most notorious funeral insurance companies, which almost exclusively targets Aboriginal Australians, the deceptively-named Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund.

The Commission will then hear evidence from Tracey Walsh, an Aboriginal woman, about her dealings with ACBF both prior to and following her signing up for an ACBF plan. The Commission will also hear evidence from Bryn Jones, a current director of ACBF.

Mr Shipton said he was in town meeting with regional commissioners and was interested in hearing this mornings evidence.

ACBF has been a thorn in the side of regulators for years. It has signed up thousands of Aboriginal children and babies to insurance schemes which could cost upwards of $100,000 over a lifetime for a funeral.