A judge weighing a dispute between ASIC and the Commonwealth Bank over whether notice of a $7 million penalty should be sent out through the bank’s Commbank app has questioned the usefulness of adverse publicity notices and whether they should be ditched for higher pecuniary penalties in the future.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has secured declarations in its case against a Sargon Capital subsidiary, which partnered with a superfund promoter accused of misleading customers in marketing calls.
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.
A judge has approved a $50 million settlement in a shareholder class action against failed training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, but questioned whether the $10.9 million commission and $12.75 million legal bill could have been “materially lower” had the case been run by one funder and firm instead of two.
A judge has given the liquidators of Linchpin Capital a final chance to defend a shareholder class action before judgment is made against the collapsed financial services group and one of its subsidiaries.
A judge has issued an ultimatum to Forum Finance director Bill Papas for his “entirely unsatisfactory” conduct in failing to provide details of personal assets while defending three lawsuits that accuse him of being behind a $400 million fraud.
Westpac has been ordered to pay $3 million after two subsidiaries admitted misleading hundreds of superannuation customers about the financial adviser fees they were charged, a penalty that took into account the Big Four bank’s massive profits.
ASIC is challenging the dismissal of its enforcement action against payday lenders Cigno and BHF Solutions in a decision that found the companies did not need a licence to issue loans to hundreds of thousands of consumers.
A judge has allowed a key US-based witness in ASIC’s case against former Quintis director Frank Wilson who will not submit to 14 days in hotel quarantine to give evidence by video link.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has dropped its criminal investigation of AMP over its fees-for-no-service conduct which was aired during the banking royal commission.