Insights Sectors: Financial Services

Apr 6, 2018

INSIGHT: Misleading Advertising in Financial Services

Financial services providers need to take care to ensure that their advertising does not mislead consumers and that any qualification to a headline offer must be adequately disclosed in the advertisement. On 23 March 2018 RAA Insurance Pty Limited (RAA) paid $43,200 in penalties after ASIC issued four infringement notices to it for misleading representations […]

Dec 18, 2017

INSIGHT: Release of Insurance in Superannuation Voluntary Code of Practice

On 18 December 2017, the Insurance in Superannuation Working Group (ISWG) released the “Insurance in Superannuation Voluntary Code of Practice” (the Code) for superannuation trustees.  The ISWG is comprised of Australia’s superannuation bodies, the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) and the Financial Services Council (FSC).  The […]

Nov 30, 2017

INSIGHT: PI Cover for AFS Licensees – Check your cover as not all PI policies have the same cover

Recent amendments to Regulatory Guide 126 highlight that financial service providers should regularly review their PI cover to ensure compliance with their regulatory and AFS Licence requirements. In or about August this year, ASIC release findings following a review of professional indemnity (PI) insurance policies held by a sample of 56 small AFS licensees to […]

Nov 30, 2017

INSIGHT: Standard Contract Terms and Conditions for Derivatives Trading and Broker Rights

In derivatives trading disputes a financial services provider may seek to rely on the terms and conditions of the client agreement and trading practices to close out positions. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has indicated that in resolving disputes concerning a broker’s authority to ‘close out’ or manage a margin, that it will not only […]

Nov 30, 2017

INSIGHT: New Legislation Introduces Ban on Excessive Payment Surcharges

On 1 September 2017, a ban was imposed on the practice of charging customers excessive surcharges on card payments pursuant to Competition and Consumer Amendment (Payment Surcharges) Act 2016. It will affect all businesses operating in Australia or businesses utilising an Australian bank when charging customers payment surcharges for using a credit card or debit card for payment including EFTPOS, […]

Nov 30, 2017

INSIGHT: Expanded Protection for Whistleblowers in Corporate, Financial and Credit Sectors including Tax Misconduct

On 23 October 2017, the Commonwealth Government released an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Whistleblowers) Bill 2017 which contains significant reforms to Australia’s private sector whistleblower laws. The new regime will offer protection to whistleblowers in the corporate, financial and credit sectors and will introduce new protections for tax whistleblowers. The proposed legislation […]

Oct 5, 2017

INSIGHT: Wright and Wrong

The Federal Court in Victoria recently considered an appeal by ASIC against a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which arose out of a rather bizarre set of circumstances.  In the AAT proceedings, ASIC sought a banning order pursuant to Section 920A(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) in respect of a […]

Oct 5, 2017

INSIGHT: Crowd-sourced funding for start-ups and SMEs – offering shares to retail investors

From 29 September 2017, public companies may offer ordinary shares to retail investors under the equity-based crowd-sourced funding regime through a licensed CSF intermediary’s platform. The CSF amendment will allow small to medium-sized businesses and start-ups to raise capital by issuing shares to retail investors without the regulatory burden of traditional fundraising provided that the […]

Oct 5, 2017

INSIGHT: Proposed new Insurance Code of Practice for Superannuation Trustees

On 20 September 2017, the Insurance in Superannuation Working Group (ISWG) released a draft Insurance Code of Practice for Superannuation Trustees (Code). The objective of the proposed Code is to improve the insurance in superannuation offered to fund members and to regulate group insurance in superannuation, particularly its automatic issuance on an opt-out basis. The […]

Aug 19, 2017

INSIGHT: Court’s disdain for disability claim

Justice Pembroke’s decision in Doltic v Hannover Life Re of Australasia Limited in the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 27 July 2017 is interesting not because it creates any new law but because of His Honour’s erudite assessment of the plaintiff’s case. Following a motor accident in 2009, which Justice Pembroke described as […]

Dec 18, 2016

INSIGHT: AWB: the next instalment…

Directors are under a continuing obligation to keep informed about the activities of a corporation (ASIC v Flugge). On 15 December 2016, the Supreme Court of Victoria issued its judgment in the latest round of AWB proceedings in which ASIC commenced an action against the former Chairman of AWB Limited (AWB). The case involved the […]

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