ASIC boss James Shipton has defended his role during his tenure as a Goldman Sachs executive, telling a parliamentary committee he was not involved in transactions that contributed to the multi-billion dollar collapse of a Malaysian sovereign fund.During his appearance before a Senate estimates committee on Wednesday night, Shipton who worked for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong for almost a decade said he was unaware of revenue streams from transactions involving the global investment bank and Malaysia's failed sovereign fund known as 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).The Malaysian government is suing Goldman Sachs for more than US$7 billion over its alleged role in helping to misappropriate cash from the stricken fund.Goldman Sachs was given a mandate to raise more than $6 billion through a bond issue on behalf of 1MDB but most of the proceeds went missing between 2009 and 2014.The investment bank collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fees on the bond programs and a former executive has admitted to participating in the fraud.Shipton was a managing director of government and regulatory affairs at Goldman Sachs in South East Asia during the period the fraud occurred, but he told senators that he only learned of the transactions through media reports after he left the global investment bank in 2013.In answers to questions from Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, Shipton said his role at the bank was focused on policy development rather than dealing with day-to-day operational compliance in Asia."I was not aware of the revenue stream from that particular transaction," he told the estimates hearing."I'll be honest it is very confronting for everyone involved in that horrible, sordid story."The ASIC chief said he had no oversight over Malaysia during his time at the investment bank.Shipton said he decided to become a regulator after leaving Goldman Sachs because he believed professional standards were sliding in the financial services sector."The reason why I left was because financial services (sector) had lost its way," he told the Senate hearing."I came to conclusion that there was not enough professionalism in financial services and I needed to do something about it."Senator Peter Whish-Wilson also probed ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour on whether the regulator was investigating the possibility that a Malaysian bank associated with ANZ Bank helped facilitate the laundering of cash from 1MDB.ANZ has a 24 per cent stake in a Malaysian commercial bank known as AmBank.Members of the Malaysian parliament have alleged that more than $900 million was funnelled from the sovereign fund into AmBank accounts held by former Malaysian prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak.Whish-Wilson asked Armour whether ASIC believed ANZ's claim that it had not been aware of what was going on in AmBank."I can't comment on that case under question," Armour said.ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott has previously said that no ANZ employee was involved in AmBank or what was alleged to have happened at AmBank.