A message from the new chair

A message from the new chair A message from the new chair David Knights introduces the ACSA Executive team and priorities as new ACSA Chair Include image of David Knights.

It’s an honour to be appointed as ACSA Chair, alongside Martin Carpenter from Citi who is the new Deputy Chair.

I’d like to introduce the new members of the ACSA Executive, Henry Kapra (J.P. Morgan) and Sandra Powell (HSBC), who join Gordon Little (RBC), Daniel Cheever (State Street), Daryl Crich (BNP Paribas) and Rohan Singh (Northern Trust) in pursuing ACSA’s mission.

Martin Carpenter is a familiar face to most in the industry, in his role as the Managing Director and Head of Citibank Securities Services in Australia and New Zealand. Martin has been a member of the ACSA board for five years and is the executive sponsor of the Operations Working Group. 

For those who may not know me, I joined ACSA last year, as Executive Sponsor of the Communications Working Group. Since then, I’ve been working with the Communications Working Group, where I’ve been actively involved in a number of projects, including delivery of member events and the new ACSA website. I’ve worked in the broader financial services industry for 22 years, including 13 years at NAB. In my current role with NAB Asset Servicing I oversee the client delivery function encompassing unit pricing, fund accounting, taxation, regulatory policy, investment transitions, investment valuations, data reporting and product management.

On behalf of ACSA, I’d also like to acknowledge the hard work of outgoing ACSA Chair David Braga, who brought a tremendous wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to the ACSA board and overseen major changes including the introduction of APRA Stronger Super reporting, developments in straight-through processing and pending introduction of T+2 for settlements. We also farewell former Deputy Chair Christine Bartlett, who will be remembered as a significant figure in her own right within the custody and administration industry. 

We recognise that we are a voluntary industry body, so often on issues we take a bit more of a reactive stance. Our working groups meet on a regular basis, to further ACSA’s mission and reputation. 

While ACSA’s executive welcomes a few fresh faces, our mission remains unchanged, and it is to:

• Represent the interests of members
• Build partnerships with regulatory bodies and peer organisations 
• Maintain the focus on asset safekeeping, and develop efficient and innovative practices in custody and investment administration 
• Promote forums to share information and ideas
• Facilitate training and professional development
• Inform members of local and global developments relevant to the industry, and
• Promote awareness of ACSA as an organisation

We will continue to be proactive with key stakeholders in shaping upcoming legislation, in particular with ASIC, ASX, APRA, ABS, ATO, Treasury and AusTrac. We also intend to maintain close industry liaison with the ASFA, AIST and the FSC. 

In line with our mission to build stronger partnerships with peer organisations, we will once again participate at this year’s FSC conference and are also in discussions with other industry associations to facilitate a greater collaboration, promote debate and understanding of custodians and represent our members’ interests within the broader industry.  

I look forward to what will, no doubt, be an interesting year ahead for the industry.

David Knights, ACSA Chair