Insights Sectors: Financial Services

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM). CSAM is an annual reminder for Australians to stay safe online and protect your online information and assets. The theme for CSAM 2023 is ‘be cyber aware – don’t compromise’. CSAM is an opportunity for businesses to review their understanding of ‘cyber security’ as a concept while continuing […]

Combatting modern slavery is a mainstream corporate responsibility, with certain financial services entities like banks, insurers, and superannuation funds being required to report on their efforts under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (Act). To assist such entities, the Australian Human Rights Commission and KPMG Australia have released a good practice guide on how best […]

Key takeaways Insurer bears the onus of proof in establishing it can deny a claim due to non-disclosure. At inception, a policy must provide a clear and understandable duty of disclosure notice, in writing. Online policy application and acceptance provides unique challenges. Insurer needs to provide evidence that the insured failed to disclose relevant information. […]

What to do if you receive an ASIC Notice Following on from our from our preliminary analysis of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry  we predicted that one of the outcomes of the Recommendations of the Hayne Commission Final Report would be a likely increase in regulatory activity, […]

A preliminary analysis of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. As foreshadowed in our previous Financial Services Insight, which deals with the Interim Report, the period of public hearings has been completed and Commissioner Hayne released the Commission’s Final Report on 4 February 2019. The Final Report includes […]

Mutual Entities Bill 2018: Tranche 2 On 26 November 2018, the Commonwealth Government released for public consultation an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Mutual Entities) Bill 2018: Tranche 2 (the Bill) which introduces a new bespoke capital instrument in the Corporations Act 2001 for all eligible mutual entities. Under the Bill, a mutual […]

The Interim Report of the Financial Services Royal Commission was tabled in Parliament on 28 September 2018. There has been much speculation about the potential nature of the findings and recommendations arising from the public hearings. The evidence of misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services industry, in some sectors and in specific instances, […]

From 1 November 2018 (changed from the initial start date of 1 July 2018), AFCA will start accepting consumer complaints for all financial services and superannuation complaints. The new EDR framework will give consumers access to a single external dispute resolution scheme to resolve all disputes about financial products and services. AFCA will replace three […]

Lending to a small business under a standard form loan contract will be susceptible to new unfair contract terms protections under the Australian Consumer Law and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act. The new unfair contract terms protections will apply to all standard form contracts used by lenders entered into or renewed on or […]

From 22 February 2018, mandatory data breach notification will apply to any individual or organisation regulated by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This will affect financial services businesses and foreign financial service providers with an Australian link and a continued presence in Australia. Under the new law, if a financial services business is the subject […]

  1. Commission Documentation Brokers should ensure that all commission, remuneration and financial benefit arrangements with insurers is appropriately documented to include: review process dispute process for conflict about remuneration post – termination payments detail of each component of remuneration such as contingent remuneration, monetary or non-monetary benefits, profit share commission, volume bonuses, or any […]