The Federal Government will introduce legislation Thursday that would ban the grandfathering of conflicted remuneration for financial advisors, after the banking royal commission suggested scrapping the practice.
The applicants in a class action against Navra Group have dropped their case after group members settled their claims in a separate proceeding with the defunct financial planner’s liquidators.
AMP Financial Planning has attempted to qualify its admission to so-called insurance churn allegations by the corporate watchdog, suggesting it might not have admitted to “all contraventions” if it had known ASIC would push for up to 120 separate breaches and $36 million in penalties.
A judge has signed off on a confidential settlement resolving a class action brought by investors against Westpac over its role in an unregistered managed investment scheme run by now deceased financial advisor Tony Famularo.
Group members in the Fitch Ratings class action have recovered almost 95 per cent of their losses in a $27 million settlement, which was narrowly approved after a judge scolded the parties for a lack of clarity around the mediation and opt-out process.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is planning to sue ANZ over $35 million in allegedly illegal customer fees, which were also at the centre of two class actions settlements reached last year under which customers are expected to walk away with no more than $100 apiece.
Former finance guru and TV personality Sam Henderson has been banned from providing financial services for three years after an ASIC surveillance operation and shock revelations from the banking royal commission that one of his staff members impersonated a Fair Work commissioner.
Pitcher Partners has lost it challenge to a ruling socking it with a $5.6 million bill for an accounting error concealed from client Neville’s Bus Service, with an appeals court saying there was a “clear and principled basis” to require the accounting firm to pay the sum awarded for loss and damage to the transport company.
Certain executives of Australian companies might have to wait seven years to have their bonuses paid out under proposed changes to executive remuneration introduced by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority designed to limit the risk of misconduct and align executive pay with long-term performance.
The settlement of the Discovery Metals investor class action against KPMG has experienced another setback, after scheme administrator Grant Thornton flagged a potential conflict of interest in acting as a costs contradictor over Piper Alderman’s controversial $3.5 million legal bill.