Nick Coates will return to ISA as a senior adviser focusing on regulatory change and government policy, according to a statement.
Dr Coates previously worked at ISA from 2007 to 2009 as head of government relations and policy.
ISA chief executive David Whiteley said he looked forward to Dr Coates’ contribution to the ISA team.
“Nick brings more than a decade of knowledge and expertise relating to financial services and regulatory policy, which will strengthen ISA’s capacity to defend the interests of members against adverse policy change,” Mr Whiteley said.
Dr Coates has had experience in both the public and private sector, having spent three years at EY overseeing financial services risk management following six years at prudential regulator ASIC as senior manager of consumer protection and financial advice.




oh Eff me! No wonder ASIC has been increasingly hostile to the planning profession and has had such generous carve outs during FoFA and now is out to slash our revenue, the ISA have had a mole in there the whole time to influence and collude with the already biased Kell & Medcraft!! Bet Coates is on a very very generous reward, I mean salary now (funded from the unwitting members of course).
This is exactly why ASIC never tackles the instos properly. Just targets the small end of town to protect the future jobs for the boys.
“Defending members against adverse policy changes” is code for making sure Union Super Funds are the only ones who can be listed as the default super funds for super contributions, ensuring that they stay on the gravy train.
If Union Super Funds are so good, why are they so worried about a bit of competition? What was the point of everyone having to have a MySuper option if only a few MySuper options are eligible for default status? This whole thing was a payoff to the Unions by Gillard and Labor when last in power.
What a surprise. It is obvious ASIC has a cosy relationship with Industry Funds. They even had the gall to use the brand name in the example SOA. If Dr Coates care about consumer protection perhaps he can use his influence within ISA to stamp out the following highly unethical behaviours: 1. Mislabelling of investment options; 2. deducting insurance premiums from member accounts without their permission; 3. using the commissions or other profit sharing arrangements from insurance to reduce fees for other members who don’t have insurance which distorts the market and unfairly younger, less financially literate members who often have small balances and multiple funds.