A judge has denied law firm Piper Alderman’s request to replace an uncooperative expert witness in a class action against KPMG over a failed takeover offer, three weeks before the matter goes to trial.
Westpac has been hit with a class action for allegedly breaching responsible lending laws by providing unsuitable loans, the first of the big four banks to face a class action in the wake of the banking royal commission’s scathing final report.
ASIC has wasted no time in the wake of a critical report from the banking royal commission, reporting a 50 percent spike in investigations into financial services companies since the beginning of the month and promising a number of criminal referrals are on the horizon.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has appealed a ruling that two Westpac units did not provide personal financial advice as part of a campaign encouraging customers to roll over external superannuation accounts.
A judge’s decision to halt questioning about ASIC emails in a class action trial over the 2008 collapse of finance group Octaviar didn’t shut the case down, the Public Trustee of Queensland has told the Full Federal Court, calling the appeal of the class action’s dismissal “completely misconceived”.
ASIC will soon have more ammunition to go after corporate wrongdoers, after the Senate passed legislation that arms the regulator to seek harsher civil and criminal sanctions against banks, their executives and others that breach the corporate and financial services law.
US financial services giant State Street Global Advisers has brought legal action against Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, alleging the law firm’s plan to erect a copy of its Fearless Girl statue in Australia violates its trade mark and breaches consumer laws.
Critical emails from ASIC regarding a $250 million loan facility to Octaviar Group before its 2008 collapse were not only overlooked by the Public Trustee of Queensland in its role overseeing the firm’s finances but were wrongly deemed irrelevant by the judge that heard the case, the Full Federal Court was told.
Technology solutions firm Byte Power Group has paid a $33,000 penalty for violating its continuous disclosure obligations by telling shareholders a proposed cryptocurrency exchange was “well advanced” when development yet to begin.
Two Macquarie Private Wealth advisers have won their appeal of an order by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that banned them for 10 years for falsifying emails and misclassifying client advice.