As part of its implementation of the regulatory sandbox for fintech companies ASIC is providing relief for certain fintech businesses from the obligation to hold an Australian financial services or Australian credit licence Relief may be available for up to 12 months and may be useful to businesses ...

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 ...

The New South Wales Government has released a draft suite of documents aimed at improving the policy framework for Voluntary Planning Agreements These include a draft Ministerial direction for planning authorities a draft revised practice note and a draft planning circular The new policy is an ...

You may be forgiven for thinking the Productivity Commission is fixated on superannuation at the moment Its latest review centres on developing alternate models of allocating default members to products ...

A director of a bank life company or general insurer who read APRAs recent information paper on risk culture could be excused for indulging in a wry smile Since mid-2015 he or she has been subject to legislative obligations concerning risk culture However the information paper suggests that APRA is ...

For more than 150 years trustees have been able to obtain advice from courts on matters affecting the management or administration of trust property and on matters respecting the interpretation of trust deeds Trustees would usually only seek such advice however if they had doubts about a proposed ...

The Federal Government has moved to provide certainty for those who rely on registered Indigenous Land Use Agreements following the Full Federal Courts decision that called the legal status of these agreements into question by introducing amending legislation Partner Ben Zillmann and Senior ...

Class action risk is changing A new wave of entrepreneurialism by plaintiff lawyers and litigation funders has substantially changed class action dynamics in recent times The 25th anniversary of the class action regime is a good opportunity to reflect on whether in the light of those and other ...

Stapled structures have been used as an investment platform in the property and infrastructure sectors for decades and more recently have been deployed into renewable energy agriculture and other areas Through the issue of its Taxpayer Alert on stapled structures on 31 January 2017 the ATO indicated ...

The Commonwealth Treasury is seeking feedback on how to kickstart social impact investment in Australia ...