The corporate watchdog’s dim view of proposals to regulate litigation funders got a mixed reaction from big players in the industry Thursday, with its position supported by foreign funders but frowned on by at least one home-grown firm.
Litigation funders should not be regulated by ASIC but by the courts, the corporate watchdog has told the Australian Law Reform Commission in response to proposals to overhaul the class action regime and subject funders to licensing requirements.
Law firm Slater and Gordon will launch a series of class actions alleging the big banks and wealth managers ripped off more than $1 billion from members of their superannuation funds.
An Australian mortgage investment manager has been hit with a class action, alleging it charged excessive fees on loans and made misleading representations to borrowers.
Mortgage aggregator Connective Group has lost an appeal of a ruling that gave the greenlight to a shareholder’s derivative lawsuit against company directors and Macquarie Bank over the sale of 25 percent of the business to the bank.
The $92 million payout to two funders that financed the recently settled S&P Global class actions shows the need for continued scrutiny of litigation funding agreements, experts say, but whether it is a sign of windfalls to come or is a ghost of commission’s past is another question.
Australian banknote manufacturer CCL Secure has successfully blocked British rival De La Rue International from registering a patent for a banknote security device.
A Federal Court judge on Monday held off on approving Westpac’s $35 million settlement with the corporate watchdog over responsible lending law breaches, saying the amount seemed too high.
A judge has struck out part of a class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia that alleges it kept investors in the dark about deficiencies in its systems for monitoring money laundering and terrorism financing risks, saying it wasn’t clear what the bank was expected to disclose.
Online lender Prospa has agreed to alter unfair terms in its standard form small business loan contracts, after it delayed a planned float due to concerns raised by ASIC about its loan terms.