The federal government has cut the budget for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission by $62.7 million in tandem with the regulator’s corporate registry being shifted to the ATO, but a legal expert told Lawyerly the cut could also signal a movement away from the “why not litigate” approach adopted in the wake of the banking royal commission.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has won access to communications between a Chinese lender and its lawyers at Baker McKenzie in a legal stoush over a failed bid to launch the first Chinese bank incorporated in Australia.
The prudential regulator has reduced a requirement that Allianz Australia hold an extra $250 million in capital by $100 million, noting steps the insurer had taken to improve its risk management. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority imposed the additional capital requirement on the insurer’s Australian unit in August last year, due to issues raised in…
Westpac is still locked in mediation with AUSTRAC over allegations that it committed over 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, with the bank’s hopes of moving to a penalty hearing in the early part of the year fading.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will continue its enforcement activities amid the spread of the coronavirus but will prioritise cracking down on behaviour that threatens “immediate consumer harm”.
Westpac has been hit with another class action over alleged anti-money laundering breaches, teeing up a high-stakes beauty parade over which firm will lead the class action against the bank.
Westpac is now facing at least eight class actions in various US courts seeking $200 million from the bank for allegedly failing to alert shareholders to violations of anti-money laundering laws.
A US-based plaintiffs firm is planning a class action against Westpac alleging it failed to alert investors to significant lapses in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance, which led to a bombshell lawsuit by AUSTRAC last year.
Two National Australia Bank units have been hit with a class action alleging they violated their duties as superannuation trustees by allegedly failing to transfer members to funds with lower fees.
National Australia Bank will be hit this year with an estimated $750 million in fines stemming from its fees for no service conduct and potential breaches of money laundering laws, analysts have predicted.