Joe Longo's victory lap
The ASIC chairman might've righted the ship, but he sure ain't no philosopher
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced on September 19 that he is on the hunt for a new chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Incumbent Joe Longo will not be reappointed when his term expires on May 31.
The announcement came the day after Longo's public appearance before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, chaired by Labor Senator Deb O'Neill. It also happened to be Longo's 66th birthday.
Longo is on a victory lap of sorts, after a rash of consequential settlements with corporate actors at record quanta. On September 15, he extracted $240 million from ANZ Banking Group over its Commonwealth bond trading scandal and miscellaneous other cruelties towards its retail customers. On Thursday last week, ASIC secured a circa $300 million deal with Macquarie to fully compensate 3,000 superannuants who invested via its platform in the failed Shield Master Fund. In exchange, ASIC dropped civil penalty charges against Macquarie.