Latest OBSI review kicks off

Khoury carried out the first two reviews of OBSI, in 2007 and again in 2011, while he was a director of Navigator Company Pty Ltd.

The 2011 report was particularly significant as it came at a time when OBSI was facing significant industry pushback on its role as the arbiter of investment industry complaints — and it was the first review to recommend that OBSI be given binding authority over participating firms.

Since then, while securities regulators have repeatedly endorsed the idea of giving OBSI binding authority, and have consulted on a proposed framework for introducing binding authority (the latest consultation ended last fall), that fundamental reform has yet to be adopted.

In the meantime, since the 2011 review, OBSI’s role has expanded to a wider swath of firms on the investment side — and, the handful of banks that withdrew from the service in favour of alternative, for-profit providers have since returned to the fold, after the federal government designated OBSI as the sole external complaints body for banks in 2024.

Now, Khoury’s firm, CRKhoury, is undertaking the latest review, which will look at OBSI’s banking and securities mandates, its internal performance, policies and processes, industry engagement, regulatory oversight, its governance and the implementation of recommendations made in previous reviews, among other things.

To that end, CRKhoury has published a paper, which solicits feedback on these and other issues by April 3 — and it has indicated that it will also be holding meetings with industry firms, lobbyists, investor advocates and regulators to garner their input on the review.

It’s expected that a final report and recommendations will come later in the year.