The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating whether new legislation is needed to address the impact of dominant digital platforms such as Google and Apple, as the regulator’s overseas counterparts usher in bills aimed at cracking down on anticompetitive behaviour.
The banks and high-ranking executives targeted in pared-down criminal cartel proceedings over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement are taking new steps to shut down the long-running case, including further probes into the ACCC’s conduct during its investigation into the alleged cartel.
The former auditors of stockbroker Halifax Investment Services, whose 2008 collapse left around $200 million in client funds trapped, have been hit with $50,000 in fines for auditing breaches that resulted in the company continuing to trade while being prima facie insolvent.
Fintech software solutions company IOUPay has been granted relief from the court after issuing 20 million shares without lodging a cleansing notice with the Australian Securities Exchange.
Prosecutors have withdrawn two-thirds of the charges in a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement and have dropped their case against former Citigroup CEO Stephen Roberts, according to a lawyer in the case.
Criminal cartel charges against the CFMEU and its ACT branch secretary have been dropped amid concerns about witnesses’ ability to recall the events at the centre of the case, two months after witness credibility concerns led to a stinging defeat for the ACCC in the Country Care criminal cartel trial.
International sporting goods giant Decathlon has been ordered to pay a $1.5 million penalty for selling hundreds of basketball hoops and inflatable swimming pools that did not comply with mandatory safety standards.
Prosecutors might cut the number of criminal cartel charges levelled against money transfer business Vina Money and five individuals who allegedly fixed the foreign exchange rate on millions of dollars transferred between Australian and Vietnam between 2011 and 2016, a court has heard.
A judge has refused to order Commonwealth Bank of Australia to publish notice of a $7 million penalty in a case brought by ASIC on its mobile app, but the bank will have to alert customers to its misconduct on its website and online newsroom.
Google will have to hand over documents relating to its infamous ‘Oh Shit’ meeting to the ACCC, with a judge finding the material was “sufficiently likely” to be relevant to any penalties the search giant will face for misleading consumers about use of their location data.