Australia’s five largest banking and financial services institutions have paid a total of $119.7 million in compensation as at 30 June 2019 to customers who suffered loss or detriment because of non-compliant advice given by financial advisers. This compensation has been paid under review and remediation programs initiated as a result of the ASIC review […]
continue readingA recent review by ASIC found Australian equity markets continue to operate with a high degree of integrity. Report 623 Review of Australian equity market cleanliness: 1 November 2015 to 31 October 2018 examines market cleanliness for the period, with a focus on insider trading and information leaks ahead of material market announcements. It extends our work […]
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01
Aug
2019
ASIC has acted to disqualify or add conditions to the registration of a number of auditors of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs). The actions arose following ASIC concerns about failures to meet requirements including auditor independence standards, auditing standards, minimum continuing professional development (CPD) hours, lodging annual statements, and fit and proper person criteria. Most of […]
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23
Jul
2019
After commencing operations on 1 November 2018, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) advised ASIC that 58 financial services licensees and 217 credit licensees, who previously held external dispute membership with one of the previous schemes, had not obtained AFCA membership and may be in breach of their licence conduct obligations. Following ASIC’s intervention with these […]
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15
Jul
2019
ASIC has released a consultation paper about whether it should remake a class order that provides conditional relief to superannuation trustees from obligations in the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) that require trustee to provide an exit statement and notice to departed former temporary resident members. The class order is [CO 09/437] Departed former temporary residents’ superannuation–Disclosure […]
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12
Jul
2019
ASIC has released Information Sheet 240 AFS licensing – Requirements for certain applicants to provide further information (INFO 240) to provide guidance to applicants on recent changes to ASIC’s Australian financial services (AFS) licensing assessment procedures. These changes apply to: applicants that are a body corporate; applicants that are Australian Prudential Regulation Authority-regulated bodies; and applicants that are […]
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11
Jul
2019
Sale of so-called ‘add-on insurances’ has been widely criticised in Australia for some time. Here’s why: High pressure sales methods Poor value products, poorly understood Sometime a consumer is not even able to claim on the product Very high commissions for distributors Difficulty for buyers in making a considered decision Regulatory scrutiny has been intense […]
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10
Jul
2019
ASIC rejects 30% of AFS licence applications and 24% of credit licence applications. In this article, we explain why it rejects applications and give you tips on how to avoid becoming a statistic. In 2017/2018, ASIC approved just 40% of all Australian financial services licence (AFSL) applications and 49% of credit licence applications. Many licence […]
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05
Jul
2019
ASIC will hold public hearings as part of the wider public consultation on its guidance on the responsible lending obligations. This consultation commenced in February 2019, and ASIC has received 72 submissions. The hearings, which will be live streamed online, are aimed at testing the views of stakeholders and providing greater understanding of business operations. […]
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02
Jul
2019
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its Life Insurance Claims and Disputes Statistics publication, covering a rolling 12-month period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. The data is the product of a world-leading joint project between APRA and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), aimed at making it easier to compare life insurers’ performance […]
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01
Jul
2019
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