Former Macquarie CEO Nicholas Moore to chair Financial Regulator Assessment Authority
The former Macquarie CEO will chair a new independent watchdog, the first job of which will be to review ASIC.
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Former Macquarie Group CEO Nicholas Moore has been appointed the inaugural chair of the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority (FRAA), a new watchdog with responsibility for oversight of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Mr Moore’s appointment was announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday, alongside the appointment to the FRAA board of Gilbert and Tobin Competition and Regulation Group partner, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, and former Medibank CEO and NAB executive Craig Drummond.
“Nicholas Moore, appointed as chair, has had a distinguished career in the financial services sector. He is a former chief executive officer of Macquarie Group, and currently holds multiple directorships in both the private and non-profit sectors,” Mr Frydenberg said.
Earlier this year the government established the FRAA in response to the findings of the Hayne royal commissions into the banks, which recommended that a regulator independent of government be established to assess the effectiveness of the corporate and banking regulators.
In his recommendations to government, commissioner Kenneth Hayne said that APRA and ASIC should be subject to reviews “at least” every four years by a new oversight authority “independent of government” with three part time members who report in respect of each regulator every two years.
Although Commissioner Hayne recommended that APRA should be reviewed “as soon as is reasonably practicable,” Mr Frydenberg said the FRAA would assess ASIC first, in light of the appointment of Joseph Longo as its new chair in April.
“In its first year, the FRAA will assess the effectiveness and capability of ASIC to assist recently appointed ASIC chair Joseph Longo in ensuring ASIC is operating effectively and consistently with the government’s statement of expectations,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“In establishing the FRAA, the Morrison government is ensuring that Australia’s financial regulators will continue to be strong and effective, maintaining the community’s trust and confidence in the financial system.”
Nicholas Moore served as chief of Macquarie Group in the decade to 2018, helping navigate the financial group through the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
During his time at the helm, Macquarie’s share price increased from under $30 to almost $130. He was succeeded by current CEO Shemara Wikramanayake.
Since retiring from Macquarie – where he racked up 33 years of service – Mr Moore has acted as chairman for numerous groups including software start-up Willow, not-for-profit The Smith Family and think tank The Centre for Independent Studies.
Mr Drummond stepped down as Medibank CEO at the start of the year, after almost five years steering Australia’s biggest health insurer to its first six-monthly policyholder growth since 2013 in the last financial year.
He has also served as the local boss of Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as well as chief financial officer of NAB, and is currently president of the Geelong Cats AFL team.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb is considered one of Australia’s leading competition and antitrust lawyers, advising many high profile clients on mergers, including Tabcorp’s $11bn merger with Tatts Group in 2017. She also sits on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s payments system board.
Mr Frydenberg said the three inaugural members have the experience necessary to ensure the regulators are discharging their functions.
“Together, the inaugural members have an in-depth understanding of Australia’s regulatory framework and first-hand experience working with ASIC and APRA over many years,” he said in a statement.
“They also have strong organisational experience which will assist in their assessment of the operational performance of both ASIC and APRA.”
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Originally published as Former Macquarie CEO Nicholas Moore to chair Financial Regulator Assessment Authority
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