Pauline Vamos’ “;immense capacity to listen to members’ concerns”; during her implementation of Financial Services Reform (FSR) while at ASIC marked her out as a suitable new CEO for ASFA, according to the association’s chair Rosemary Vilgan.

“;Pauline is a person of great intellect, and she is extremely well respected among industry regulators,” Vilgan said. She said Vamos was chosen to run ASFA because of her reputation and high level of industry knowledge. “She has a lot of insight; Pauline understands the various industry sectors and issues,” Vilgan said. Vamos, who will start at ASFA in early September, has more than 20 years experience in a wide variety of roles within the financial services industry. Her most prominent was as director of licensing and business operations at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). For the past three years, Vamos has been consulting to the financial services industry in relation to strategic compliance, risk management and regulatory issues. Previously she has run her own general insurance brokerage, been a life insurance agent, a litigation solicitor with Philips Fox and a corporate lawyer. Vamos had been sought after for other roles, Vilgan said, but she wanted to work in an area she was passionate about. “Pauline has similar values and goals to ASFA,” she said.