Adds lawyer reaction; paragraphs 11-13
By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Australia will appoint Sarah Court to lead its corporate regulator, the first woman in the agency's 35-year history, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Tuesday.
Court will start from June 1, taking the place of outgoing Australian Securities and Investments Commission $(ASIC)$ chair Joe Longo, who retires in May after a five-year tenure.
Now the agency's deputy chair, Court leads its enforcement and investigation work. Before that she was a commissioner of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
"Under her leadership, ASIC has delivered some of its strongest enforcement results on record - reflecting a sharper focus on protecting consumers, lifting standards across the financial system, and reinforcing the integrity of Australia’s markets," Chalmers said in a statement.
ASIC has taken an increasingly tough stance towards corporate Australia in the past few years, launching cases against ANZ Banking Group ANZ.AX and investment bank Macquarie Group MQG.AX.
In December ANZ agreed to pay a fine of A$250 million ($174 million) for mishandling a A$14-billion government bond deal and other systemic failures that harmed taxpayers and retail customers.
Macquarie agreed to a fine of A$35 million after admitting to misreporting millions of short sales over several years.
"ASIC will be in very capable hands under her leadership," Longo said.
In the past five years, ASIC's formal investigations increased by 129% and new civil proceedings were up 35%, agency figures show.
In the past year the regulator has urged major reforms to Australia's capital markets regulations to try and reactivate flatlining initial public offering $(IPO)$ markets.
In November, it said it would back moves to reduce free-float thresholds for public companies and cut market capitalisation requirements on foreign firms planning to list in Australia.
"We hope that under Sarah’s leadership, ASIC continues to explore reforms to Australian public markets to promote their attractiveness and longevity," said Will Heath, a partner at law firm King and Wood Mallesons.
She was among the regulator's leadership team that began critical public consultation on Australia’s capital markets, he added.
Court was a "formidable litigator" who had engaged closely with corporate Australia on regulatory changes while deputy chair, said Andrew Bradley, a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.
($1=1.4393 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)
((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))
