The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

The Australian Law Reform Commission released for consultation today a set of proposals aimed at overhauling the federal corporate criminal responsibility regime. This comes in the wake of criticisms that the current system is ineffective in preventing, deterring and prosecuting serious corporate crime. Whilst the reforms offer a clearer, consistent and more rational framework for addressing corporate misconduct in Australia, some elements (such as the adoption of a general 'associate' model for criminal attribution) will no doubt raise concern given their capacity to significantly extend corporate liability. We examine some of the key proposals and their likely impact. Partner Christopher Kerrigan and Senior Overseas Practitioner Cindy McNair report. ...

The High Court's first decision on the financial assistance prohibition in section 260A of the Corporations Act supports a conservative approach to the prohibition, and in particular highlights the danger of 'taking a view' on the no material prejudice exception. ...

ASIC has released its first report focusing on director and officer oversight of non-financial risk in seven large financial services companies (the First Report). While the report focuses on financial services companies, ASIC points out expressly that all companies, regardless of sector, should read and engage with the findings of this report. ...

APRA has released a discussion paper on its new prudential standard on remuneration which will have far-reaching implications for variable remuneration structures across all APRA-regulated entities. ...

The Consumer Data Right Act has been passed by Federal Parliament bringing with it significant changes for legal, risk and compliance teams operating in the finance, banking, energy and telco sectors ...

Software company Palantir Technologies was recently announced as the US Army's choice to deploy a complex combat intelligence system valued at US$800 million. ...

APRA has released the updated final version of its Prudential Practice Guide, which gives crucial context about how it views cybersecurity threats. ...

Legal and compliance leaders should act now to combat serious and increasing legal and reputational risk ...

The 4th edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations focuses strongly on the link between culture, values and community expectations, consistent with the themes that emerged from the Royal Commission. ...