Regulators

ASIC has fired back at iSignthis’ defence to the regulator’s claims that it violated the Corporations Act by not disclosing $3 million in one-off revenue related to integration agreements, saying it was not the job of its compliance officials to school the fintech on its disclosure obligations.

ASIC has launched its first case related to the COVID-19 pandemic, targeting personal lender ClearLoans for allegedly contravening the hardship provisions of the credit laws that resulted in “significant consumer harm”.

Women’s activewear company Lorna Jane has defended ACCC allegations that it represented to consumers during that height of the coronavirus pandemic that its activewear would protect them from viruses including COVID-19, saying it had a reasonable and proper basis for making the claims. 

A judge has questioned fintech company Squirrel Super’s defence in ASIC’s case alleging it made false and misleading statements about returns on property investments, saying it “looked like a bit of a stretch” at first glance.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has told a judge there’s no chance it will admit to ASIC’s allegations that it accepted conflicted remuneration through the sale of its Essential Super product, likening the matter to ASIC’s failed ‘Wagyu and shiraz’ case against Westpac.

In another victory for ASIC in a case stemming from the banking royal commission, a judge has ruled that TAL Life Limited breached the Insurance Contracts Act after denying coverage to a cancer patient and threatening to recover $24,000 it had already paid to her.

The Federal Court is set to determine whether artificial intelligence can be the inventor of a patent, after an AI pioneer filed a challenge to an IP Australia finding that allowing a machine to be considered an inventor would render the Patents Act incapable of “sensible operation”.

The High Court has ruled that the tax office was not obliged to refund money for tax surpluses mistakenly issued under the GST Act, in a long-running legal dispute between the Commissioner of Taxation and foreign currency exchange Travelex.

The ACCC has secured a court-enforceable agreement from Visa that it will not tie cheap interchange rates for large retailers to their use of the Visa network for processing debit card payments, after the regulator raised concerns the credit card giant may have engaged in anti-competitive conduct.

After months of uncertainty and a scolding from the judge about “vague” excuses, former Linchpin Capital directors facing proceedings by ASIC and a class of investors have been given assurance that their legal costs will be covered under an insurance policy.