ASIC

The head of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has urged businesses not to put off compliance with mandatory climate disclosures until after legislation has passed, saying while it was too early for the regulator to set out an enforcement plan, it wasn’t too early to be prepared.

The Environmental Defenders Office has lodged a complaint with ASIC on behalf of a member of UniSuper, accusing the Australian superannuation fund of greenwashing its products by mislabelling them as ‘sustainable’. 

Australians who sank $21.2 million into crypto firm NGS Crypto, including their retirement savings, may have been misled about the safety of their investments, according to an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

The founder of ASX-listed bottled water company Eneco Refresh has been slapped with an 18-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to market manipulation.

 Macquarie Bank has agreed to pay a $10 million fine in proceedings brought ASIC after the bank admitted that it failed to monitor third-party withdrawals, resulting in a financial adviser’s theft of $2.9 million.

The corporate regulator is appealing a judgment that tossed its landmark action against Austo & General Insurance, saying the judge erred in construing an unclear and disproportionate term in the insurer’s house and contents policy.

Sydney stockbroker Adam Blumenthal has been ordered to pay close to $1 million after admitting to market rigging and breaching his duties as director of two companies — including by arranging a $7 million loan to ‘ASX Wolf’ Tyson Scholz.

ASIC chair Joe Longo has called on lawyers to be bold in their embrace of emerging technologies, saying lawyers “must be careful with generative AI but not afraid of it”. 

In a win for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a judge has found that payday lender Sunshine Loans charged thousands of customers prohibited fees, issuing a scathing judgment condemning the company’s “wrongheaded” conduct.

A former director of Noumi has won his challenge to the food manufacturer’s claim for legal professional privilege over a PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned by its lawyers at Ashurst, with a judge finding the company waived privilege by disclosing it to Australian Securities and Investments Commission.