Written by Michael Vrisakis, Hartley Spring, Shan Verne-Liew and Nathan Hauser Introduction This month we expect to read the written submission filed by ASIC in respect of the High Court case of Westpac Securities Administration Limited v ASIC (High Court of Australia, S29/2020, commenced 7 May 2020). The case concerns whether certain call centre scripts contained general … Read more

Written by Michael Vrisakis General issue The issue has been raised as to if and how advisers can satisfy the best interests duty (BID) when selling annuity products, particularly in a low interest rate environment and in the context of intra-fund advice. As noted below, the general issue here is the extent to which selling single … Read more

THE ISSUE The issue of differential pricing of financial products on investment platforms has arisen as a news item over the past several weeks. This edition of FSR Australia Notes sheds some light on this topic, and the legal furphies and controversies surrounding it. THE STARTING POINT The starting point is to articulate the concept … Read more

This edition of Regulatory Rinkles follows on from our previous edition on Spotlight on Conflicted Remuneration and focuses on the transitional issues facing product issuers and advice licensees who are looking to end or deal with their existing grandfathered arrangements before the grandfathering exemption is removed from 1 January 2021. LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND – THE END … Read more

There are several tectonic forces at play which are all converging to impact on sales and distribution of financial products. The key forces are: general law developments affecting general advice and personal advice; the new anti-hawking changes; the evolution of the efficiently, honestly and fairly obligation (click here to read our detailed discussion in previous … Read more

This edition of Regulatory Rinkles focuses on certain aspects of the conflicted remuneration regime under Part 7.7A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act), which are often ill understood. This focus is timely following the Royal Commission and the proposed end of the grandfathering regime. While the grandfathering of conflicted remuneration is coming to an … Read more

This article continues the analysis from Part 1 of Spotlight on efficiently, honestly and fairly by looking at how financial institutions can respond to the efficiently, honestly and fairly duty, particularly at a practical level and also given the increased regulatory sanctions with the obligation now being transformed into a civil penalty provision. Read more

This edition will examine how the standards, procedures and processes in regulatory compliance and governance that are being affected by Covid-19 are reflective of the particularly unique circumstances that prevail under Covid-19. Read more