Regulation not always the answer, says Pearce
07 February 2006
Government intervention doesn’t always result in a better outcome when it comes to business regulation, but it was important to introduce a regulatory regime to the…
Regulatory & Government
ASIC guidance on FSR refinements
31 January 2006
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission won’t be providing formal guidance to financial service providers about complying with regulatory refinements…
ASIC drops the FSRA ball
31 January 2006
ASIC Chairman Jeff Lucy was talking tough in Perth last week about jailing corporate crims, but he must be smarting from a less than complimentary Australian National Audit Office…
ASIC offers simpler warnings for oral advice
06 December 2005
Providers of general financial product advice will be able to give a simple oral general advice warning under a new class order issued by ASIC…
… and warns about travel insurance
06 December 2005
ASIC has also encouraged Australians to check the fine print when shopping around for travel insurance this holiday season…
APRA’s proposed framework for IFRS
06 December 2005
General insurers are being issued with consultation packages in response to the International Financial Reporting Standards…
Panel to review medical indemnity
29 November 2005
The Federal Government has announced the formation of a review panel to examine the effectiveness of its medical indemnity measures package…
ASIC slashes licence application paperwork
29 November 2005
ASIC is halving the amount of paperwork needed for an Australian financial services licence application…
Wilkie faces new charges
29 November 2005
Former FAI COO Daniel Wilkie was back in court last week only a few days after being acquitted in the NSW Supreme Court of failing to act honestly in the exercise of his powers…
Relationship rules refined
22 November 2005
Regulations to further refine the meaning of “interdependency” for superannuation and related taxation law have been announced by Assistant Treasurer Mal Brough…
Mulcahy calls for regulatory model review
15 November 2005
Overlaps between ASIC, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) must raise questions about the viability of the “twin peaks”…
FAI trio walks free as ASIC case collapses
15 November 2005
ASIC Chairman Jeffery Lucy says the acquittal of three FAI company officers in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday highlights the difficulties of prosecuting complex financial cases…
One more charge for Fodera
15 November 2005
Former HIH Finance Director Dominic Fodera was released on bail yesterday after facing an additional charge – the seventh against him…
APRA and ASIC advise on life insurance
08 November 2005
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and ASIC have jointly published “Unit pricing – guide to good practice” for the life insurance, superannuation and…
APRA new paper completes round two reforms
01 November 2005
APRA has released an additional discussion paper and proposals for General Insurance Reform Stage Two, which it says will tie up some legislative loose ends…
Walk the talk, APRA tells insurers
01 November 2005
The risk management capabilities of the general insurance industry have improved in the past few years, but some insurers are all talk and no action, according to APRA…
ASIC drops authorisation requirement
01 November 2005
The “refinement” of the Financial Services Reform Act continues, with ASIC announcing late last week its decision to give Australian financial services licensees the ability to drop…
APRA makes its stand on corporate governance
25 October 2005
Australia’s multi-faceted corporate regulatory system can cause the occasional dispute over territory between the various regulators, and last week APRA Chairman John Laker…
Homesafe guilty of providing builders' warranty insurance
25 October 2005
A director of Homesafe Equities, Geoffrey Wade, of Castlemaine, Victoria, has pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to one charge of carrying on a financial services business…
Statistics shed light on market consolidation
11 October 2005
Despite the confusion surrounding the statistics, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s quarterly general insurance performance statistics show some interesting trends…