The Productivity Commissions draft report on competition in the financial system released earlier in February makes 25 draft recommendations a key focus of which are reforms to the regulatory system ...

The Federal Government has proposed to introduce two new forms of collective investment vehicle – each a shiny, tax-neutral alternative to the unit trust. ...

In examining the topic of consumer lending the Commission considered issues arising from the sale of credit products ndash including residential mortgages car finance and credit cards - by reference to case studies involving the four major banks as well as Aussie Home Loans and Citi ...

The Federal Government has released draft exposure legislation designed to facilitate company reconstructions Senior Finance Counsel Diccon Loxton Senior Associate Alicia Salvo and Associate Frances Navarro-Towan discuss some of the implications and issues ...

ASICs new regulatory guidance focuses on managing conflicts of interest and material non-public information when providing sell-side research As well as providing extensive guidance on managing conflicts of interest during the capital raising process ASIC provides its views on payment of ...

As regulatory and political pressure increases on the major banks in Australia alternative credit providers are entering the market with a variety of products to attract borrowers The unitranche loan is an example of one such product Partner Warwick Newell Senior Overseas Practitioner Alex Tonkin ...

Vietnams new Law on Bankruptcy will take effect from 1 January 2015 bringing in a number of changes including a new definition of bankruptcy Partner Robert Fish and Junior Associates Giang Quang Nguyen and Linh Nguyen look at the most significant features of the new law and note what will differ ...

Partners David Donnelly and Nicholas Ng examine public-private partnerships PPPs in Australia including the year in review the general framework bidding and award procedures recent decisions and the outlook for 2015 ...

The highest appellate court in the UK has affirmed and restated the penalty rule as it applies in the UK in a recent decision that directly addresses and counters the High Court of Australias approach to the rule in Andrews Partner Nick Rudge and Lawyer Patrick Easton report ...

In a recent case a leasing company lost 23 million worth of leased equipment because it had registered the lease against the lessee companys ABN rather than its ACN - involving just two extra digits The equipment vested in the lessee company when it went into voluntary administration The court ...