Australia & NZ

ASIC granted a licence variation requested by IOOF’s investment services unit, but has decided to also impose additional licence conditions.

The start date is being delayed to coincide with the date new regulations needed for transitional licensing take effect.

In his opening statement to a Senate estimates hearing this week, APRA chairman Wayne Byres said the regulator will need additional resourcing to deliver on its objectives.

The issues paper identifies five key factors for the fintech and regtech sectors which the committee will focus its attention on in a year long inquiry.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims reportedly told a parliamentary hearing that bundling products such as credit cards and insurance would form part of the agency’s inquiry.

Existing Libor-referencing contracts that don’t have robust fallback provisions in place will be tied up in very lengthy disputes, warned the RBA’s Christopher Kent at ISDA’s Australia Conference.

The MoU sets out cooperation arrangements to complement the EU’s July equivalence decision, as well as to ensure effective information exchange and supervisory coordination.

Forex brokerage Circle Markets Limited did not dispute the FMA’s findings, and its sole director admitted to not fully understanding his AML/CFT obligations.

The bill to end the payment of grandfathered conflicted remuneration to financial advisers has now passed in the Senate, after passed in the House of Representatives last month.

Disclosure can backfire in unexpected and harmful ways and should not be relied upon by itself to drive good consumer outcomes, ASIC says in a joint report with the Dutch regulator.