After almost 10 years of negotiations between the nations on 17 November 2014 Prime Minister Abbott and President Xi announced the conclusion of negotiations on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement ChAFTA Once implemented the ChAFTA is expected to significantly reduce import barriers for ...

There is a contest underway between two heavyweights In one corner of the ring we have Big Data In the other corner we have the definition of personal advice in section 766B3 of the Corporations Act ...

From 1 January 2015 a new common risk management prudential standard will apply to banks general insurers and life companies and in many cases to other companies in the corporate groups in which those institutions sit Michael Mathieson looks at the three lines of defence model that APRA proposes to ...

In recent times APRA has been active in prescribing duties for directors of the institutions it regulates In light of what has happened it is worth asking should the question of directors duties be excluded from APRAs prudential standard-making powers ...

There is lots of noise about the duties of financial advisers and lawyers including us love to debate whether FoFA has left any room for fiduciary obligations ...

With financial services providers already taking advantage of the possibilities created by a new tide of internet meta data we need regulators and a regulatory regime that see the opportunities implicit in the change and not only the risks ...

Superannuation fund trustees and their lawyers including this one have been grappling for years with what the covenant in section 522c of the Superannuation Industry Supervision Act 1993 means What must a trustee do to exercise its powers and discharge its duties in the best interests of ...

With the recent Intergenerational Report having further highlighted the need to deliver social outcomes in an efficient way Partners David Donnelly and James Darcy report on the potential role of social benefit bonds in providing social infrastructure and services ...

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 2014 ASIC started promoting the use of behavioural economics in its regulatory activities Two reports recently released by ASIC provide clues as to how ASIC may try to counteract behavioural biases in the future ...