Does increasing criminality make for better reform of the financial services industry?

Abstract

This article examines the research conducted by Michael Adams and Jeremy Green into the Changes in Liability for the Superannuation Industry that was commissioned by the Fund Executives Association Limited in August 2001. The surprise result was that the number of criminal offences found in Ch 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) will increase by 289% after 11 March 2002. The Financial Services Reform Act 2001 (Cth) has many subtle changes caused by policy and legislative changes. The impact of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and the transfer of ‘tandem liability offences’ from the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) have also had a significant impact. Finally, a policy discussion as to whether severely increasing criminal offences actually provides an improvement in the behaviour of financial services industry players.