Commercial behaviour falls on a spectrum. On one end, we find healthy marketplace competition, on the other end, we find behaviour that is downright predatory. The critical question for financial services providers is: at what point does capitalising on a commercial advantage actually become unconscionable? Read more

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

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

The Federal Court has recently reaffirmed that the phrase “in relation to” a financial service is necessarily of wide import. In this context, it is timely to reiterate the practical consequences of this broad interpretation in the context of financial services. “in relation to” In Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Hutchison [2020] FCA 978, … Read more

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