Financial Markets Authority chief executive Samantha Barrass. Photo: Supplied
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) says stakeholders are more confident in its performance.
Its annual report and the attendant Ease of Doing Business (EODB) survey shows 84 percent of respondents have confidence in the country's financial markets, a similar level to last year
The ease of doing business survey seeks feedback from stakeholders and industry participants to understand the effectiveness of their interactions with the FMA, and their views on FMA's overall effectiveness in delivering its mandate.
Chief Executive Samantha Barrass said after a decline in a number of key indicators in last year's survey, a year of hard work and extensive industry engagement saw better results from this year.
"Overall belief that the FMA's actions help raise standards of market conduct and integrity is up slightly, at 82 percent this year, but still behind our ambitious 90 percent target."
The financial markets regulator said it had improved its communications and engagement measures with the industry, and 74 percent of participants found FMA communication clear, concise, and effective, an improvement on last year's 63 percent.
Still work to do
The regulator is still seen falling short on several measures, which only marginally improved from last year.
It is still regarded as too bureaucratic, with just 55 percent of the industry believing it develops and implements streamlined processes; a slight improvement from 48 percent last year.
Only 56 percent agreed it was easy doing business with the Authority, a marginal improvement from 53 percent a year ago.
The FMA had achieved nine of 12 targets, but still had work to do improving its systems and processes, which may have dragged its overall rating lower, Barrass said.
"We are committed to improving and modernising our systems, to uplift performance and support new features."
Barrass said regulating the financial markets continues to be a balancing act which may have affected their confidence and market integrity ratings.
"We note comments vary between those who favour more enforcement and those who favour lighter regulation, perhaps reflecting tensions in the balance the FMA seeks to strike- between the need to make it easier for the financial sector to do business with the need to ensure integrity."
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