Since the 1996 Wallis Inquiry disclosure has been at the heart of the regulatory philosophy for the retail financial services sector in Australia Under the Financial System Inquirys terms of reference the Inquiry will refresh the philosophy principles and objectives underpinning the development of a ...

The Federal Government has taken the first step towards achieving its announced intention of abolishing the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and transferring some of its functions to the Australian Taxation Office and the yet-to-be-established National Centre for Excellence ...

Partners Leighton OBrien and Nicholas Ng provide an overview on public-private partnerships PPPs in Australia examining the general PPP framework trends in the industry the procurement process operation and maintenance default and termination and financing ...

A Bill is currently before Federal Parliament that will more closely but not completely align the foreign non-portfolio dividend NANE treatment with debtequity concepts Partner Martin Fry and Senior Associate Jennifer Richards report on the changes ...

In the Final Report, the Commissioner has found that, for the most part, whilst the legislative tools necessary to protect borrowers are already available, there have been significant shortcomings in ...

Today the Full Federal Court clarified the law of penalties as it applies to fees The key development is that in considering whether the amount of a fee is extravagant and exorbitant compared to the potential costs incurred in dealing with a failure to perform an obligation the court held that ...

The Government yesterday released for consultation draft legislation containing resilience and collateral protection measures Think payment systems netting and derivatives But also think superannuation trustees and life companies investing in centrally-cleared OTC derivatives - and restrictions on ...

The High Court has ruled that a liquidator has no obligation to retain monies on account of tax until a notice of assessment has been issued The decision will provide much needed clarity for liquidators and other statutorily deemed trustees and agents Partners Charles Armitage and Christopher ...

ASIC has released a report looking at the way vertically integrated funds management businesses deal with conflicts of interest The report summarises the findings of ASICs recent review of a number of businesses and sets out some good practice recommendations Partner Marc Kemp and Senior Associate ...

The High Court of Australia has decided that a third party claimant can join an insolvent or potentially insolvent defendants insurer to proceedings to seek a declaration that the insurer is liable to indemnify the defendant Partner Andrew Maher and Lawyer Shelley Drenth discuss the decision and its ...