The Dodd Frank Act is a bit like the US financial system it is trying to regulate - vast complex and hard to wade through It creates a bunch of new regulators on top of what was already a pretty solid cast and gives them wide-ranging powers They can not only set capital and liquidity requirements ...

The Government has finally begun the process of implementing its policy on crowd-sourced equity funding CSEF by introducing a Bill and releasing draft exposure regulations late last year which envisage the establishment of a CSEF regime in Australia The Bill has been referred to the Senate Economics ...

The release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has renewed the debate about the ability of foreign investors to sue governments under investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms which are commonly part of international trade agreements or investment treaties between States ...

Legislation introduced into Parliament will impose a 10 per cent non-final withholding tax on proceeds paid to foreign parties to acquire direct or indirect interests in Australian real property and mining rights from 1 July 2016 Partner Martin Fry and Lawyer David Lewis discuss the proposed law ...

The Federal Attorney-Generals Department has released its draft Project Plan for the implementation of the wide-ranging recommendations arising from the recent statutory review of Australias anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime Partner Peter Haig Associate Andrew Shetliffe ...

The Bill to amend the conflicted remuneration provisions in the Corporations Act for life insurance has been introduced into Parliament a second time and draft regulations have been released for comment However we struggle to know how to describe them because the changes seem to have conflicting ...

New relief guidelines have been issued on Queensland's foreign stamp duty surcharge ...

Foreign financial services providers relying on passporting a foreign licence to provide their services in Australia will find their regulatory relief could be expiring in 2 years - and has become subject to a new condition - following ASICs actions to repeal the ASIC Class Orders which give effect ...

Class action risk is changing A new wave of entrepreneurialism by plaintiff lawyers and litigation funders has substantially changed class action dynamics in recent times The 25th anniversary of the class action regime is a good opportunity to reflect on whether in the light of those and other ...

The Taskforce established by Treasury to consider ASICs enforcement powers released its first consultation paper a few weeks ago on breach reporting We examine the most significant of the Taskforces 12 preliminary positions ...