THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it should be able to begin faster prosecutions in cases of manipulation and insider trading after its takeover of financial markets supervision.

ASIC took up the new role yesterday after the Senate voted in March to hand oversight of real-time trading on domestic-licensed markets to ASIC from ASX, the national stock exchange operator.

ASX yesterday renamed itself ASX Group and overhauled its structure to create four main operating units.
"Perhaps what people will see a bit more than before is that things are going quicker," said Belinda Gibson, ASIC's deputy chairman.

"A more effective and efficient regulator will engender confidence amongst market participants and can only help add to the attractiveness of Australia as a global investing destination," said Tim Schroeders, a fund manager at Pengana Capital.

This article is available in full at smh.com.au.