Enforcement

Two Japan Post Holdings subsidiaries are required to suspend insurance product sales for three months and submit business improvement plans by end-January.

The legislation will oblige ASIC and APRA to cooperate, share information with each other, and notify each other if they have a reasonable belief that there has been a breach of the other’s legislation.

The 'Office of Informant Protection' is charged with receiving and processing information on insider trading disclosed by whistleblowers, and with protecting their identities.

The case reportedly relates to the official's supervision of Baoshang Bank which was taken over by regulators in May due to "serious credit risks".

Proposals include mechanisms for early detection and investigation of bond disputes, higher penalties for repayment failures, and lower costs for investors exercising litigation rights.

The scheme will ensure that consumers and small businesses receive a payout in cases where compensation has been awarded but the financial services provider is unable to pay.

The asset manager was fined HK$2.5mn for filing 339 incorrect or late notifiable interest disclosures to the SEHK and eight listed companies.

The former head of HSBC's North American interest rates business allegedly manipulated prices for five-year basis swaps used to price a bond issuance and a related swap.

ASIC says Volkswagen contravened the responsible lending provisions of the National Credit Act in relation to 49,380 loan contracts.

The class action, filed by law firm Phi Finney McDonald, will rest on whether Westpac breached disclosure obligations or misled investors about the extent of its AML compliance failures.