A recent Federal Court appellate decision highlights the fundamental tension in the Corporations Act between shareholders power to propose resolutions at members meetings and the proposition that a company is to be managed by its Board of directors ...

ASIC has today announced that superannuation fund trustees and responsible entities will have until 1 October 2017 to comply with the updated fee and cost disclosure rules for PDSs set out in ASIC Regulatory Guide 97 and ASIC Class Order 141252 - but only if they comply with certain conditions ...

Treasury released a paper seeking feedback on a framework for Comprehensive Income Products for Retirement. It will permit trustees to offer members on a 'soft default' basis 'mass-customised, composite retirement income products' and, to encourage trustees ...

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 the release of an ASFA Best Practice Paper on insourcing investment management we look at some of the challenges and opportunities for in-house legal teams that come with the seemingly inexorable move in the superannuation industry towards insourcing investment management functions ...

In a bold new play, a consortium led by social media giant Facebook has announced plans to enter the financial services sector through the launch of a cryptocurrency called Libra. Both a currency and a blockchain backed payment system, the project could have a profound impact on the financial servic ...

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. ...

Allens has written over the course of this year, the Royal Commission will bring and in fact already has brought monumental changes both in how banks are regulated and to the actual laws that apply ...

The Federal Government has announced that it will press ahead with changes to the future of financial advice provisions, initially by regulation and then by legislation ...

Last night the Senate Economics Legislation Committee released its report on the Corporations Amendment Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice Bill 2014 The Committees recommendations could lead to changes in the treatment of scaled advice and general advice Partner Michelle Levy and Senior ...