Senator Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law has tonight launched the renewed Capital Markets Co-operative Research Centre.
“The Centre contributes to the efficiency and integrity of Australia’s markets through the promotion of research and technological innovation in capital markets design and operations. Such innovation and the CMCRC’s role in enhancing market integrity is particularly important in these times of market volatility,” Minister Sherry said.
The Capital Markets CRC was established in July 2007 with Commonwealth funding of $26.3 million over the seven years to 2014. This funding was confirmed by the Rudd Government upon coming to office.
“The Centre aims to enhance the integrity of Australian and international markets. The Centre points out that the avoidance of a single 0.01 per cent of manipulation in the Australian capital market will save $98 million.
“The Rudd Government’s ongoing support of the Centre illustrates the importance we attach to market-focused research and development and to the Government’s policy of positioning Australia as a global financial services hub,” Minister Sherry said.
The Centre is led by a team of leading researchers and members of industry including its CEO Alex Frino, Professor of Finance at the University of Sydney.
The Centre is currently undertaking two major research programs. The first aims to develop a cross-market surveillance capability focused on trading data sourced from exchanges. The second aims to develop surveillance capability using non-trading data sources including unstructured data such as free-text and corporate reports. This program will also contribute to developing cross-market surveillance capability.
The two programs coincide in the assessment of whether fraud has been committed by correlating unusual trading activity with primary information sources such as accounting and audit reports and information announcements.
“The Centre’s focus on new technology to enhance the efficiency and integrity of equity markets complements the Government’s policies in these areas,” Minister Sherry said.