Australia

Capital / Liquidity

APRA Proposes Banks Hold More Capital Against Large Subsidiaries

By Editors | 18/10/2019

APRA proposes to increase the amount of capital banks need to hold to support investments in large subsidiaries, such as their New Zealand units.

Market Infrastructure

Disclosure Can Contribute to Customer Harm: ASIC

By Editors | 17/10/2019

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.

Enforcement

ASIC Grants Advisers Relief From Compliance Obligation

By Editors | 16/10/2019

ASIC will grant a three-year exemption from the obligation to ensure that financial advisers are covered by a compliance scheme, and from the associated notification obligations.

Enforcement

Australia to Form New Disciplinary Body for Financial Advisers

By Editors | 15/10/2019

The plan undoes months of effort by industry associations to form an independent body to monitor and enforce compliance with a new code of ethics for financial advisors.

Capital / Liquidity

ACCC to Probe Banks on Mortgage Pricing Decision-making

By Editors | 15/10/2019

The ACCC is commencing an inquiry to find out why banks are not fully passing on interest rate cuts to borrowers, and what prevents customers from switching to cheaper lenders.

Securities / Derivatives

ASX Announces Final Changes to Listing Rules

By Editors | 10/10/2019

The main changes relate to increased reporting, better and more timely disclosure by listed investment companies, and new measures to address listing rule breaches.

AML / KYC

Westpac Expected to Reveal New AML Provisions in Annual Report

By Editors | 09/10/2019

The bank disclosed since last year that it could be fined for nine years of AML failures, but it has not yet had enough information to make provisions against the possible penalties.

ABA Backs Proposal for Bank-Funded Financial Counselling

By Editors | 07/10/2019

A review of Australia’s financial counselling sector has recommended that the big four banks fund half of the initial contributions immediately needed to expand delivery of such services.

Securities / Derivatives

ASX Consults on Changes to Treasury Bond Futures Roll

By Editors | 07/10/2019

A new consultation paper outlines four options for changes to the roll structure and order management functionality for the 3 and 10 Year Treasury Bond Futures contracts.