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 ...

There has been a great deal of attention given to the meanings of financial product advice and personal advice in the Corporations Act and many of us are eagerly waiting to see what Justice Gleeson will say about the topic in the case ASIC has brought against the BT trustees. ...

Have you been wondering what the Royal Commission will make of the numerous witness statements and vast amounts of other information collected from superannuation trustees in recent times You will find out soon enough But first there are some curiosities from the Round Four hearings to consider - ...

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has granted relief to assist responsible entities of registered schemes to make changes to their constitutions to qualify for the new attribution managed investment trust regime without holding a members meeting In addition and in response to ...

The idea that the UK could on leaving the EU simply walk away from a significant amount of EU financial services regulation seems fantastical It is likely that the UK will instead have to adopt on exit vast amounts of EU financial services regulation However the UK will have no say on the future ...

The Reserve Bank has now released a Standard which sets out what payment surcharges will be permitted for the purposes of the new Part IVC of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 Cth The aim of the Standard is to improve competition and efficiency by providing to consumers price signals associated ...

The new Life Insurance Code of Practice has much to recommend it The paragraphs concerning policy design are a case in point But is the Code indeed just a code or does it purport to go further ...

The Government has finally begun the process of implementing its policy on crowd-sourced equity funding CSEF by introducing a Bill and releasing draft exposure regulations late last year which envisage the establishment of a CSEF regime in Australia The Bill has been referred to the Senate Economics ...

In the Final Report, the Commissioner has found that, for the most part, whilst the legislative tools necessary to protect borrowers are already available, there have been significant shortcomings in their application and enforcement. ...

Last month we discussed the carrot in the UK Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards - how the regulators are making sure remuneration for bank staff encourages prudent risk behaviour This month we are looking at the stick - how the UK is strengthening regulators enforcement armoury to enable ...