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

Following the publication of our principles on the new anti-hawking regime for financial products, we have been advising many life insurers and general insurers on their readiness for the new regime, due to come into effect on 5 October 2021. This is without a doubt one of the biggest reforms to impact the insurance industry … Read more

In April of this year, we wrote about draft guidance released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on the significant impending changes to Australia’s breach reporting regime. Read more

The Final Report of the Financial Services Royal Commission called for a follow-up review into the ethics and standards in the financial services sector. In response to this, on 21 April 2021 at the FSC Life Insurance Summit, Financial Services Minister Jane Hume announced that the Government will commission a review of the financial advice … Read more

This edition of our ‘FSR GPS’ (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series covers the upcoming changes to the anti-hawking regime for financial products in the Corporations Act, with the new regime coming into effect on 5 October 2021. In this article, we outline: our 12 legal principles which go to the heart of the new anti-hawking … Read more

In this article, we address a cryptic pillar of the current Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) and the proposed Financial Accountability Regime (FAR): the obligation to deal with APRA and ASIC in an open, constructive and cooperative way. What would this obligation require? What would it not require? How can we prepare for it? In … Read more

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

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