The Governments much anticipated FOFA regulations were registered today and provide significant relief for benefits provided to employees and representatives of product issuers who provide general advice They also expressly allow bonuses to be linked to successful product sales providing the bonus ...

Since the 1996 Wallis Inquiry disclosure has been at the heart of the regulatory philosophy for the retail financial services sector in Australia Under the Financial System Inquirys terms of reference the Inquiry will refresh the philosophy principles and objectives underpinning the development of a ...

Today ASIC released a report outlining the shortcomings in the disclosure of fees and costs for superannuation and managed investment products While everyone may not like what it says and for some it may be too little too late the more detailed discussion of what the law requires may be helpful ...

With financial services providers already taking advantage of the possibilities created by a new tide of internet meta data we need regulators and a regulatory regime that see the opportunities implicit in the change and not only the risks ...

It has taken a while but out of the dust of an early Federal Budget and double-dissolution election announcement a new tax attribution regime for Attribution Managed Investment Trusts has emerged relatively intact While the AMIT regime should generally be welcomed as a positive thing for MITs in ...

On 13 December 2016 Treasury released a paper seeking feedback on the proposed financial product design and distribution obligations and proposed product intervention powers for ASIC The proposals are intended to create new accountability obligations for product issuers and distributors On one view ...

With all the media attention on the Governments surprise announcement of its proposed package on improving accountability and member outcomes in super last week you would be forgiven if the Productivity Commissions latest issues paper on competitiveness and efficiency in the super system had slipped ...

Industry Super Australias proposed Inverted Bid Model has generated a lot of interest and discussion At a recent industry symposium participants were invited to explore the model with a view to further refining it for application in the Australian infrastructure market Partner David Donnelly poses ...

Issues of securities interests in managed investment schemes and other types of financial products typically involve a number of designated services under Australias anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing AMLCTF regime However in the midst of preparing governing documents disclosure ...

Corporate culture and its role in shaping conduct within the financial services sector is now clearly at the forefront of ASICs enforcement agenda This focus was apparent in ASICs 2014-2015 strategic outlook released in October 2014 which identified corporate culture as a key risk driver and poor ...