The Treasury Amendment (Strengthening Corporate and Financial Sector Penalties) Bill 2018 (Bill), which introduces stronger penalties for corporate and financial sector misconduct, has been passed by the Senate. The Bill implements recommendations of the ASIC Enforcement Review Taskforce and will amend the Corporations Act, ASIC Act, National Consumer Credit Protection Act (and Credit Code) and the …

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ASIC has released research exploring the customer experience of internal dispute resolution (IDR) procedures in the financial services sector. Financial services licensees have specific obligations around maintaining an IDR procedure.

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The Financial Services Council has released a draft of the new Life Insurance Code of Practice (Code) for public consultation. This follows scrutiny of the industry, including sales and claims practices, during the round 6 hearings at the Financial Services Royal Commission. The draft Code builds on the existing code and is designed to lift …

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ASIC has proposed updates to Regulatory Guide 105 Licensing: Organisational competence (RG 105) that would see advice licensees required to have a responsible manager (RM) that meets a new Option 6 knowledge and skills requirement. Consultation Paper 305, released yesterday by ASIC, includes updates designed to support the professional standards reforms, which aim to lift …

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The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released the Life Insurance Reporting Standard LRS 750 Claims and Disputes with the aim of enhancing the consistency and quality of life insurance data. The data will be published through a program established jointly last year by APRA and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). With the …

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ASIC has published its Corporate Plan for 2018-2022. The plan articulates the regulatory actions ASIC proposes to take over 2018-2019.

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Following the release of its report into direct life insurance (see our blog entry on that here), ASIC has also released a report on the provision of insurance cover through superannuation (Report 591). Generally, superannuation funds offer their members one or more types of life insurance (such as life cover, TPD cover and income protection …

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Late last week, ASIC released Report 587 on the sale of direct life insurance, revealing that its has found that sales practices and product design are leading to poor consumer outcomes. Direct life insurance products are sold within a general advice or no advice model. Throughout 2017-18 ASIC has conducted a multi-stage review of the …

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The Government has passed legislation which introduces a new external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme, known as the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), to resolve disputes relating to financial services complaints. The establishment of AFCA means there will be a single scheme for all financial services and superannuation complaints. Currently there are three separate schemes: the …

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Late last year, the Government released an exposure draft of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Bill 2017 (Bill). The Bill seeks to introduce: design and distribution obligations for financial products to ensure such products are targeted at the right people; and a temporary product intervention power for ASIC …

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