It has been recognised for some time that the domestic corporate bond market constitutes a weak spot in the otherwise robust and deep Australian capital markets The less developed domestic bond market is a distinguishing feature among the leading financial systems and capital markets This was no ...

The Australian Government has announced that from 1 March 2015 acquisitions of agricultural land worth more than A15 million and any additional acquisitions over and above that amount will require government approval It will also establish a foreign ownership register of agricultural land ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Robo advice is another one of these phrases that we are suddenly seeing everywhere The idea offers some exciting opportunities for advice providers What are the regulatory issues And how can lawyers help ...

The level of public interest and popular support for regulation targeting excessive surcharging makes card payment regulation likely to be one of the first areas of reform following the publication of the Final Report of the Financial System Inquiry the FSI Report ...

ASIC has published draft rules for mandatory central clearing of certain derivatives while Treasury has published draft regulations that would permit single-sided reporting of Over-the-Counter Derivatives in some situations Partner Tom Highnam and Lawyer David Lewis discuss the implications of these ...

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis governments and regulators have been busy identifying ways to better protect the financial system from future shocks Among these are measures for arming financial regulators with a more comprehensive crisis management toolkit Of particular concern are ...

The Australian corporate debt market is primed for growth, with an increase in the number of funds providing direct lending as an alternative source of financing to the traditional lending dominated by domestic banks. ...