Licensing update (ASIC): I attended an ASIC licensing update earlier in the week, and it was fascinating! My notes are in my weekly newsletter, which you can access here (reach out to me if you wish to be on the emailing list). The resourcing, consistency and strategy of the division was discussed, together with other matters…
FAR (Parliament): The FAR bill is in Parliament, and is likely to pass in the Spring sitting which ends in December 2022. See here for details. The Government is now seeking stakeholder views on the Minister Rules. The Minister Rules prescribe…
FAR (Parliament): IT. IS. FINALLY. HERE. AND. I. AM. EXCITED! This week, the Federal Government introduced the Financial Accountability Regime Bill 2022 (Cth). The bill reintroduces the Financial Accountability Regime Bill 2021 (Cth), which was introduced by the previous Government but lapsed with the calling…
FAR (ASIC): Information from an ASIC session with the Chair and Commissioners this week in which I took the following notes. FAR will be passed in Spring sitting. It will come into effect for ADIs in March 2023. It will come into effect for Super / Insurers in March 2024. Finally, there is lots of work going on in the background…
Anti-hawking provision (ASIC):ASIC has finally released its guidance (RG 38) setting out its expectations on the the hawking provisions in s992A and 992AA of theCorporations Act2001 (Cth). Under these hawking prohibitions, a person must not, in the course of, or because of, an unsolicited contact…
Licensing update (ASIC):ASIC has released a report outlining key issues, new and proposed changes to its licensing processes, and other work it has undertaken that affects licensees. Between July 2020 and June 2021, ASIC received 1,883 AFSL and ACL applications (an increase from 1,346 the previous year)…
Breach reporting (ASIC):the corporate regulator has released the new RG 78 to apply from 1 October 2021 for the new breach reporting regime. The primary shift under this new regime, which applies to both AFSL and ACL holders, is to a more expansive scope of reportable situations (i.e. matters that must immediately be reported to ASIC),…
AUSTRAC v Westpac (AML / CTF):in an action-packed week, the first entry is Westpacs agreement to pay the biggest fine in Australian corporate history, $1.3 billion (Westpac had provisioned $900M), to settle the proceedings brought in November 2019 by the AML / CTF regulator, AUSTRAC. AUSTRAC accused it of breaching…
PPSA / Financial Products (AG):the Federal AG is seeking the publics views on the practical impact of thePersonal Property Securities Act 2009on the trading of financial products, including whether the current provisions in the legislation should be amended, the reasons for any proposed changes and the nature…
Corporate Criminal Liability Review (ALRC):following the Hayne Royal Commission , there were increased concerns that corporations, and senior officers within those corporations, were not being adequately held to account for serious corporate misconduct.(Criminal liability for corporations has always been a fraught…
DDO / PIP (Treasury):a development I missed in last weeks update (apologies!), the Morrison Government has released for public consultation exposuredraft regulationsto support theTreasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Act 2019(Cth)…
Privilege (ASIC):in a rather interesting reversal, the hunter became the hunted inASIC -v- Mitchell[2019] FCA 1484where the First Defendant (the former VP of Tennis Australia) sought to challenge ASICs claim to legal professional privilege in relation to communications it had with potential witnesses prior to proceedings being issued…
Unfair conduct: the ACCCs Chairman, Rod Sims, has restated that a new unfair conduct provision shouldapply across the economy, replacing unconscionable conduct provisions in legislation (and in equitable law), which a number of interest groups and some judges consider too narrowly framed…
Class actions / consumer protections: starting somewhat tangentially this week, albeit with more regulatory enforcement activity there are inevitably more class actions, Justice Parker of the NSW Supreme Court recently refused to approve a solicitors costs and a common fund order…
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