Efficiently, Honestly and (still) Fairly Uncertain – The Quest for Certainty

08 November, 2022
The continuing uncertainty around the provision requiring licensees to provide financial services ‘efficiently, honestly and fairly’ under section 912A(1)(a) of the Corporations Act (EHF provision) comes into sharpest focus against the backdrop of the new breach reporting regime. In this article, we examine some common questions and challenges we are seeing emerge in relation to … Read more

Insurance in superannuation: AFCA complaints directly against life insurers – A thing of the past?

28 October, 2022
The Decision Yesterday’s decision of the Full Federal Court in MetLife Insurance Limited v Australian Financial Complaints Authority Limited [2022] FCAFC 173 upheld MetLife’s contention that AFCA does not have jurisdiction to hear complaints made directly against life companies relating to life insurance in superannuation. The issue arose due to a specific complaint which was … Read more

Section 52(12) – The Forgotten Covenant

07 April, 2022
By Scott Donald PhD CFA (External Consultant and Associate Professor – UNSW) Rob Kardashian, Emilio Estevez, Luke Hemsworth, Dannii Minogue, Trevor Chappell.  Sometimes it is hard to avoid being overshadowed by more famous, more glamorous siblings. The covenant in section 52(12) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act) must be feeling that … Read more

State of Play: The unconscionable conduct yo-yo goes back to the High Court

21 March, 2022
We have previously written about the doctrine of unconscionable conduct, where we follow the developing law of both statutory and equitable unconscionable conduct. The yo-yo starts its first play with the 2019 High Court decision in ASIC v Kobelt, which created significant uncertainty in the doctrine of unconscionable conduct (see our article here).[1] Five separate … Read more