Welcome to our monthly snapshot of regulatory updates and other developments in corporate law We know you are busy so our focus is on capturing key issues ...

Perhaps the most important unanswered question in Australian class action law is how causation may be established in the context of a shareholder class action In the United States this issue has been addressed by the fraud on the market theory This week the US Supreme Court rejected a challenge to ...

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 ...

Anti-corruption was high on the agenda at the B20 Australia summit recently held in Sydney Allens Partner Rachel Nicolson a director of the UN Global Compact Network Australia and convenor of its Anti-Corruption Leadership Group attended the summit and provides an overview of the issues discussed ...

A Bill is currently before Federal Parliament that will more closely but not completely align the foreign non-portfolio dividend NANE treatment with debtequity concepts Partner Martin Fry and Senior Associate Jennifer Richards report on the changes ...

Partners Leighton OBrien and Nicholas Ng provide an overview on public-private partnerships PPPs in Australia examining the general PPP framework trends in the industry the procurement process operation and maintenance default and termination and financing ...

The recent Great Southern class action settlement included a term by which group members acknowledged and admitted that loans taken out with independent financiers to finance investments in Great Southern managed investment schemes were valid and enforceable Two separate Victorian Supreme Court ...

Today the Full Federal Court clarified the law of penalties as it applies to fees The key development is that in considering whether the amount of a fee is extravagant and exorbitant compared to the potential costs incurred in dealing with a failure to perform an obligation the court held that ...

In October 2014 ASIC released its report into retail life insurance advice practices The findings were pretty grim - with poor advice being more common than good or even adequate advice ASIC said that advisers were motivated by the promise of commissions not the interests of their clients Following ...