ASIC Proposing To Regulate Research Houses More Closely

ASIC has released a consultation paper proposing research report providers, including research houses, separate their business units as a strategy to manage conflicts of interest.

The proposed segregation would involve strict physical and electronic separation between ancillary business units such as consulting and funds management services and the research business.

A key conflict of interest issue for research report providers is whether providers should accept payment from product issuers to produce research about the issuerʼs own products. ASIC is seeking feedback on this subject.

The initiative by ASIC is to improve confidence in the independence and quality of research reports.