Draft Financial Accountability Regime legislation released for comment

19 July, 2021
On 16 July, Treasury released Exposure Draft legislation for the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR)(FAR Bill). While the FAR Bill has some similarities to the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) in the Banking Act 1959 (Cth), there are some provisions of the FAR Bill which differ to BEAR and which raise concerns about over-regulation and uncertainty. … Read more

Operational resilience in financial services regulation

29 March, 2021
Operational resilience is the next phase in the evolution of financial services regulatory policy. We approach this resilience at a conceptual level, identifying 5 elements which make up a holistic operational resilience framework: Financial resilience – capital, liquidity, prudence; People resilience – governance, accountability, culture; Structural resilience – clarity of operational and legal structures; Regulatory … Read more

Executive remuneration and accountability – the revised APRA CPS 511 Remuneration

12 January, 2021
On 12 November 2020, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released a revised draft Prudential Standard CPS 511 Remuneration for consultation (Revised Draft CPS 511). The revised standard has moved away from the prescriptive requirements of the initial consultation draft, towards a ‘principles-based approach’, giving banks, superannuation funds and insurers greater latitude to determine and … Read more

Proposed simplification of financial services law

11 September, 2020
On 11 September 2020, Attorney-General Christian Porter MP announced that a review of the legislative framework for corporations and financial services regulation had been referred to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC). This review follows recommendations of the Banking Royal Commission, which noted that the complexity of the current regulatory regime is preventing the intent … Read more

FSR GPS: The efficiency limb of the EHF obligation

09 September, 2020
This is the third edition in our “FSR GPS” (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series relating to the efficiently, honestly and fairly (EHF) obligation in financial services law. In this third edition, we examine the very specific issue of when a financial service might breach the EHF obligation on the grounds of the service not being … Read more

FSR GPS: Efficiently, honestly and fairly in practice (Part II)

31 August, 2020
Our “FSR GPS” (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series is designed to assist financial institutions navigate often complex and sometimes opaque or ambiguous legal provisions, with a view to assisting institutions formulate practical and strategic legal and business solutions. This edition aims to provides further practical guidance to in-house lawyers and businesses on how to navigate … Read more

FSR GPS: Efficiently, honestly and fairly in practice

17 August, 2020
Our “FSR GPS” (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series is designed to assist financial institutions navigate often complex, and sometimes opaque or ambiguous, legal provisions, with a view to assisting institutions formulate practical and strategic legal and business solutions. This edition aims to provide practical guidance to in-house lawyers and businesses on how to navigate the … Read more

Remediation Round-Up – Who is the proper payee?

10 August, 2020
Background This edition of HSF FSR Australia Notes is the first in our series dealing with legal remediation issues arising from exercises undertaken post Royal Commission. In this edition, as the title indicates, we examine the topical issue of where compensation payments should be made in a situation where multiple parties have been involved in … Read more