This article was originally published on The Australian Financial Review. By Michael Vrisakis Australia’s corporate law regime can be compared to a Russian doll, with one or more top-level dolls concealing other dolls. The president of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Justice Sarah Derrington, says there is a “large mass of secret law” made by … Read more

In this article, we look at how ASIC is reacquainting itself with one of the oldest tools in its enforcement toolkit: the court enforceable undertaking (CEU). ASIC’s new Chair Joe Longo has long signalled since commencing with the regulator in June that the “why not litigate?” enforcement mantra of predecessor James Shipton is a thing … Read more

The Financial Accountability Regime Bill 2021 (FAR Bill) was introduced in the House of Representatives on 28 October 2021. This legislation will replace and extend the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) (which currently only applies to authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs)) to all APRA-regulated entities – with some key changes, including: the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) … Read more

It goes without saying that the new Best Financial Interests Duty (BFID) obligations are central to not just a superannuation trustee’s governance framework, but also its operational framework. As readers will be aware from our previous articles on this subject (see here and here), we are seeking to assist superannuation trustees to understand the duty … Read more

Our last article on this topic canvassed the new best financial interests duty (BFID) in some detail (link here), particularly the breadth of the duty and how it impacts on delegations. We touched on the reach of the new duty in terms of whether it is a subjective test, an objective test and/or an outcomes-based test. … Read more

By Ruth Stringer and Preeta Seshachari After a long gestation period, the Federal Government’s proposed retirement income covenant (RIC) for superannuation trustees has finally been revealed with the publication of Exposure Draft legislation (available here). The new covenant will require superannuation trustees to develop a retirement income strategy for the benefit of beneficiaries who are retired … Read more

This article addresses the integration of the efficiently, honestly and fairly (EHF) obligation into the risk assessment and breach reporting frameworks of financial institutions that hold an AFSL. Central to this exercise is the integration of the EHF obligation into operational processes, procedures, decision-making and, last but not least, organisational culture. The role of fairness … Read more

This edition of our ‘FSR GPS’ (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series provides some insights and practical guidance on the new ‘best financial interests duty’ that applies to superannuation trustees. This duty has been inserted into section 52(2)(c) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act), amending the previous best interests duty. Is the … Read more