A recent decision of the High Court confirms the scope of arbitration clauses that refer disputes under a deed or agreement can be broad enough to capture disputes about the validity of the agreement ...

Very broadly speaking current legislation relating to responsible lending says that a person must not recommend or make an unsuitable loan to a consumer - an unsuitable loan being one that either does not meet the consumers requirements and objectives or imposes repayment obligations that they are ...

Class action risk continues to increase and is becoming more complex than ever before. Assessing this risk for your organisation is extraordinarily challenging and requires a broad-based perspective of the broader class actions landscape. ...

The Federal Government has released its much anticipated Review into Open Banking in Australia The Review makes 50 sweeping recommendations to implement Open Banking including a new regulatory framework under which the regime would operate in the broader context of a new Consumer Data Right for all ...

Almost half of all companies experienced at least one cyber ransom incident in 2016 - either a ransomware attack or a ransom denial-of-service attack That same year ransomware attacks cost businesses more than US1 billion worldwide1 a figure expected to reach US5 billion in 2017 and exceed US115 ...

An exposure draft of proposed legislative amendments designed to reduce the compliance burden for businesses has been released by the Federal Government The amendments include long-awaited changes to the dividend payment rules the abolition of the 100 member rule and updates to remuneration ...

Last night the Senate Economics Legislation Committee released its report on the Corporations Amendment Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice Bill 2014 The Committees recommendations could lead to changes in the treatment of scaled advice and general advice Partner Michelle Levy and Senior ...

ASIC recently issued a report on the handling of confidential information by listed entities and their advisers focusing on analyst and investor briefings and unannounced corporate transactions While the report does not identify any systemic issues it does highlight a number of areas of concern ...

At the recent APEC conference in Bali the finance ministers of Australia New Zealand Singapore and South Korea signed a formal Statement of Intent on the establishment of the Asia Region Funds Passport which will allow fund managers based in participating countries to market and sell certain managed ...

The Federal Court has made orders permanently staying two competing shareholder class actions against GetSwift Limited and allowing a third class action to proceed The latest in a series of judgments where the courts have grappled with the problem of competing class actions Justice Lees decision ...