While this does not directly deal with LM Investments, readers should be aware that ASIC, the government entity responsible for policing the investment community in Australia, has been undergoing a firestorm of criticism of late. There was a Senate Inquiry held a few weeks back where complaints were aired… and the chairman dodged any vestiges of the corruption. (He claims they aren’t funded well enough to do their job!)
Anyway, while readers here may not be particularly interested in the ins and outs of that particular saga, one thing worth reading is this piece from Michael West who profiles what it is like actually working for ASIC:
In explosive evidence before the Senate Inquiry into the Performance of ASIC, the lawyer James Wheeldon described the corporate regulator as tainted by corruption. He left in disgust in 2005 after his advice on fee disclosure was abandoned and he was asked to work under the instruction of a lawyer on secondment from the National Australia Bank’s wealth management operation, MLC.
I actually don’t know what a secondment is, but it sounds like it’s similar to a lobby group asking for special consideration in order for an exception to be made to a law. In the US, only lawmakers can make an exception, but it sounds like in Australia that ASIC has the power to do so as long as it doesn’t run against Parliament? [Ed. note: A reader explains in the comments. I wasn’t even close…]
I’ve bookmarked this area on the Sydney Morning Herald and have made it a habit to go there a few times a week in order to see what West is writing about.
This type of secondment usually means the employee remains an employee of their existing employer. A commercial agreement is entered into between the employing entity and a third party company pursuant to which the employee will perform duties for the benefit of that third party company. At no time does the employee become employed by the host company.
Oh….