Google has come out in defence of its privacy disclosures to Android mobile users in the face of landmark legal action by the ACCC, saying the consumer regulator’s allegations of misleading conduct rely on an “artificial and incorrect” account of the way it informs users of the collection and use of personal location data.
A magistrate has dismissed a bid to expand the cross examination of a JPMorgan witness in the closely watched criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, calling it a “back door” attempt to bypass a prior court ruling.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will get an additional $26.9 million to take on Google and Facebook, but the Federal Government will proceed more slowly in implementing some of the more wide-ranging proposals in the regulator’s final digital platforms report, including suggested changes to privacy and merger review laws.
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.
The judge overseeing the settlement approval process in multiple class actions against Volkswagen over the diesel emissions scandal has criticised an application for a common fund order by the funder backing two Bannister Law-led lawsuits.
CBA subsidiary Avanteos Investments Limited has been hit with extra conditions on its superannuation licence by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority after it was revealed the investment management firm charged fees to thousands of deceased superannuation members.
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.
AUSTRAC’s lawsuit against Westpac over 23 million alleged breaches of money laundering and counter-terrorism laws is racing towards a possible February penalty hearing, with the bank largely in agreement with the regulator on its liability.
A key witness from JPMorgan previously contested claims by the ACCC that a key component of an alleged cartel arrangement between four major banks around a $2.5 billion institutional share placement by ANZ was actually an ‘agreement,’ as opposed to a series of independent decisions, a court has heard.