ASIC has agreed to provide Westpac with the transcript of a compulsory examination of one of its traders in court proceedings accusing the bank of insider trading in relation to the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid.
A judge has vacated next year’s trial in ASIC’s insider trading case against Westpac despite “misgivings”, and has made orders regarding confidential evidence after the Australian financial watchdog argued that handing the material to the bank could damage its relationship with its Hong Kong counterpart.
ASIC’s case accusing Westpac of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid should be heard “as quickly as the court can deal with it”, a judge has said.
The ACCC has lost its regulatory action against NSW Ports alleging a 50-year agreement with the state, signed when Port Botany and Port Kembla were privatised in 2013, was anti-competitive.
Deloitte has agreed to settle a $3.8 million lawsuit brought by a partner that challenged the accounting firm’s mandatory retirement policy.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is seeking a $1.2 million penalty against Victorian electric utility Sumo Power for luring customers with the promise of discounts and low rates only to jack up their prices months later.
Industry super funds AustralianSuper and IFM Investors – the consortium behind the interest rate swap at the centre of the corporate watchdog’s insider trading case against Westpac — have asked a judge to shield commercially sensitive information from the public as the high-profile action unfolds.
Ernst & Young has delayed in filing its evidence in a lawsuit by Sydney-based investment firm London City Equities over its auditing of collapsed soda ash maker Penrice after hiring Holding Redlich to replace Allens just a few months before a mediation deadline.
Westpac has argued that ASIC should flesh out its case accusing the banking giant of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid, saying the regulator has not explained the nature of the alleged inside information.
A unit of coal mining company Futura Resources has failed to convince the Full Federal Court to allow it to register a 2012 coking coal mine investigation conducted in Central Queensland for a research and development tax offset.