The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned superannuation funds they face criminal penalties if they try to win over employers with tickets to sporting events or other gifts.
A judge has rejected a proposed common fund order in the settled KPMG class action, saying the funder’s commission was “arguably excessive” and could result in a “stratospheric” return to the firm.
Customers of mortgage lending and investment firm RMBL say they were “shocked” when the company’s chief financial officer allegedly called them to say “he hoped” they would opt out of an excessive fees class action that had been filed against the firm.
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.