Greg Tanzer, Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioner, has set out an agenda that will, over time, lead to a much more open and globally comparable structured finance sector in Australia. Speaking at the Australian Securitisation Forum conference yesterday, Tanzer outlined further developments in securitisation regulation and explained ASIC's approach in the context of an international perspective."At ASIC we continue to believe that sustainable and orderly securitisation markets can - and should - play an important role in achieving the right balance of funding sources between markets and the banking sector, and in facilitating economic recovery," he told the audience of market professionals. ASIC has recently implemented mandatory trade reporting in Australia for over-the-counter derivative transactions. "The first phase of reporting has commenced with the five major Australian banks, and much valuable information is being provided," Tanzer said.The next phases, which commence April 1, 2014, and October 1, 2014, respectively, will involve financial groups with outstanding OTC derivative notionals of greater than A$50 billion, followed by all authorised deposit-taking institutions and Australian Financial Services Licence holders. "There is likely to be some impact on securitisations as derivative transactions entered into in relation to a securitisation will ultimately need to be reported," Tanzer said. "We encourage entities that may be affected to consider the impact early, and engage with ASIC early through our ongoing consultation process."Governments and regulators are also beginning to work on the implementation of margining principles for non-centrally cleared derivatives in their domestic regimes, as these are to be implemented between December 2015 and December 2019. Another critical aspect of the global derivatives reform agenda has been mandatory clearing. "In our market, ASIC, APRA and the RBA have recommended mandatory clearing for US, euro, British pound and yen-denominated swaps for internationally active dealers. This is being done "largely for international consistency", Tanzer said. Regarding his agency's ongoing work to support debt markets since May 2013, Tanzer noted that retail investors have been able to buy and sell Australian government bonds on the ASX as easily as they can buy and sell shares. "The launch of trading in these bonds increased the amount of ASX-quoted assets for retail investors in the interest rate category from $35 billion to approximately $280 billion, an eight-fold increase."ASIC also continues to be involved in other areas of work which indirectly promote the restoration of confidence in securitisation markets, for example, through regulation of credit rating agencies and credit providers.