The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is well underway with its first round of public hearings wrapping up less than a month ago By reference to a number of case studies the first round of hearings focused on consumer lending practices In ...

The hearings in the Financial Services Royal Commission have been compulsory viewing not only for financial services industry participants and their regulators and professional service providers The hearings have exposed wide-ranging actual or alleged wrongful conduct that has captured the attention ...

Issues of securities interests in managed investment schemes and other types of financial products typically involve a number of designated services under Australias anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing AMLCTF regime However in the midst of preparing governing documents disclosure ...

The Governments response to the FSIs superannuation recommendations is as with much of the rest of the responses somewhat safe and as a result arguably disappointing As with the Inquirys recommendations it shifts from the sublime to the ridiculous ndash on the one hand it deals with the really ...

As an institution APRA can be partial to bureaucratese As keen readers of APRAs writings we sometimes find ourselves asking ndash what is APRA really saying here And that is a question worth asking when reading APRAs recent letter to life companies setting out its concerns with group insurance ...

The sixth round of public hearings considered issues associated with the sale and design of life insurance and general insurance products, the handling of claims under life insurance and general insurance policies, and the administration of life insurance by superannuation trustees. ...

Have you been wondering what the Royal Commission will make of the numerous witness statements and vast amounts of other information collected from superannuation trustees in recent times You will find out soon enough But first there are some curiosities from the Round Four hearings to consider - ...

In a recent decision the Full Federal Court has clarified the scope of a professional services exclusion in a Directors Officers insurance policy Partner Andrew Maher and Senior Associate Andrew Lazzaro report on a case that gives some guidance on the relationship between professional indemnity and ...

How many times have you heard someone say FoFA is settled Next time you hear that you should reach for one of the many quotable quotes from The Castle and tell em theyre dreamin First there are the so-called Retail life insurance industry reforms Then get ready for remuneration reforms in the ...

The FSI report recommended that the Government facilitate rationalisation of legacy products in the life insurance and managed investment scheme industries The need for ways to close legacy products has been kicking around for at least a decade and in 2007 Treasury released a very thorough options ...