A lot has happened since our most recent update The Royal Commission has published the submissions received from ASIC and industry participants on policy questions posed by Counsel Assisting at the end of the financial advice hearings And the small business lending hearings have been held ...

In his recent Interim Report into Misconduct in the Banking Superannuation and Financial Services Industry Commissioner Hayne makes a lot of the duties of an Australian financial services licensee and an Australian credit licensee to provide financial services or credit activities as the case may be ...

Although the Commissioner says that the Royal Commission is part of the executive and not the judiciary and that he is therefore not able to make any findings of law he comes pretty close in his views in response to Round 2 And in some important respects those views do not correspond with ...

Class action risk continues to increase and is becoming more complex than ever before. Assessing this risk for your organisation is extraordinarily challenging and requires a broad-based perspective of the broader class actions landscape. ...

In his Interim Report, Commissioner Hayne rejected claims that misconduct in the financial services sector was the fault of 'a few bad apples' and did not raise 'broader or systemic concerns. This Insight considers what can and should be done about such systemic issues. ...

Proposed changes to the FSC Life Insurance Code designed to improve standards in product design sales underwriting customer service complaints and claim handling are afoot and the deadline for comments is fast approaching ...

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority AFCA the new one-stop-shop for resolving financial complaints has had a very busy first six months of operation ...

IP disputes can be costly. One way firms can manage this risk is to obtain IP insurance. Once regarded as too expensive to work, recent developments in the market suggest that, for smaller businesses in particular, protection may now be more affordable. ...

In the Radio Rentals Class Action, the Federal Court of Australia has ordered - over the objection of an Insurer - that a respondent disclose its insurance policies to the applicant. ...

The Queensland Supreme Court has refused an application by a class action plaintiff seeking to compel the defendant to disclose its insurance policy and documents relating to its insurance position. In doing so, the court commented on the recent Federal Court decision in the Radio Rentals class action but came to a different result on the facts. This decision shows that when determining whether or not to make an order for disclosure, the court is likely to take into account the defendant's financial capacity, and may be less likely to make such an order where the defendant's solvency is not a concern. ...