A committal hearing in the ANZ cartel case may run a further nine days next year due to ongoing arguments about subpoenas and privilege, which have derailed five planned days of cross-examination of key witnesses and led a Local Court Magistrate to proclaim she was “awful close” to ending her life.
Westpac has filed a special leave application with the High Court seeking further clarity on the line between personal and general advice under financial services laws, after an appeals court handed ASIC a significant win in finding the bank violated its duty to act in its customers’ best interests during a superannuation rollover campaign.
The banks and executives facing criminal charges over alleged cartel conduct related to ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement in 2015 will fight to widen their cross-examination of key ACCC witnesses after new information was brought to light in late submissions by the regulator.
A judge has given the green light to a $1.5 million settlement in a long-running class action against ANZ alleging it slapped customers with illegal fees, with group members expected to get no more than $100 and potentially walking away with “substantially less” than this.
APRA’s chairman has told Parliament that the regulator is “actively considering” what action it should take against Westpac in light of recent allegations by AUSTRAC that the bank breached anti-money laundering laws on 23 million occasions.
Embattled banking giant Westpac may be seeking to limit its potential liability in any shareholder class actions it may face in the wake of AUSTRAC’s lawsuit alleging 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, with the bank offering to refund some of those that purchased shares as part of a $2.5 billion capital raising.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won its case against defunct financial advisor Dover Financial and its former director, who famously collapsed during the banking royal commission, with a judge saying the company engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct through its inaptly titled ‘client protection policy’.
A former National Australia Bank branch manager has been sentenced to a year of home detention for engaging in fraud in relation to the bank’s scandal-ridden Introducer home loan program.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance division, CommInsure, has pleaded guilty to 87 criminal charges that it hawked life insurance products in unsolicited telephone calls, but wants credit for the early plea.
The National Australia Bank has admitted to most of the violations alleged in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s case over the bank’s $24 billion scandal-ridden ‘Introducer’ loan referral program.