The release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has renewed the debate about the ability of foreign investors to sue governments under investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms which are commonly part of international trade agreements or investment treaties between States ...

There were three announcements this week that will serve to bolster the emerging Australian FinTech sector The Government released a statement in support of FinTech as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda while ASIC issued two sets of guidance an information sheet for providers of ...

The Productivity Commission has released an issues paper inviting submissions on the criteria that should be used to assess the efficiency and competitiveness of Australias superannuation system This will be of interest not only to superannuation trustees but also to service providers including fund ...

Australian boards and senior executives are expected to maintain oversight of risk and compliance issues including bribery, sanctions, human rights and anti-money laundering. ...

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 Australian Government is via two new consultations proposing wide-ranging reforms to tackle the challenges that it faces in detecting and prosecuting serious corporate crime ...

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

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 Attorney-Generals Department has released its draft Project Plan for the implementation of the wide-ranging recommendations arising from the recent statutory review of Australias anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime Partner Peter Haig Associate Andrew Shetliffe ...

ASIC released its report Financial advice Fees for no service today It says that there has been a systemic failure by advice licensees within some of the major banks and AMP to provide ongoing advice in return for ongoing fees The report relates chiefly to arrangements between licensees and clients ...