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New derivatives licence inappropriate
4 July 2010
Proposed new rules that require advisers to have
a derivatives licence in order to advise on
instalment warrants used to buy property within
self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) have
been greeted with concern by some in the SMSF
industry.
More...
FPSA investigates
rogue representatives
2 August 2010
Dealer group Financial Planning Services
Australia has been forced to call in ASIC and
the police after an internal investigation
uncovered a series of “irregularities” by one of
its now former authorised representatives. FPSA
director said the company’s investigation into
its member firm, 360 Asset Management, had ended
with ASIC cancelling the firm’s Australian
financial services licence. More...
FPA: Greater consumer
involvement required in Super
2 August 2010
Good government policy should encourage greater
education, participation and professional Advice
in Superannuation, according to the Financial
Planning Association. The FPA supports creating
efficiencies and reducing costs in
Superannuation, but warns that greater consumer
engagement and access to professional advice are
vital in ensuring the adequacy of Australians’
retirement income streams. More...
Complaints against
planners fall
5 August 2010
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has
received fewer complaints against investments
and financial planners in the past year,
according to released figures. Alison Maynard,
investments, life insurance and superannuation
ombudsman, said the number of investment
disputes dropped by 50 to 809 in the year to
June 2010. More...
Ex-super chief under
fire
5 August 2010
Statewide Superannuation is seeking the return
of more than $300,000 in personal expenses it
alleges was wrongly charged to the company by
its former chief executive. The $1.7 billion
South Australian superannuation fund alleges
Frances Magill misappropriated $344,000 worth of
company monies. More...
Top CEOs back
statutory fiduciary duty for advisers
9 August 2010
The country’s top executives in financial
services said that the Ripoll Inquiry
recommendation to impose statutory fiduciary
duty for financial advisers is the best way to
improve the quality of advice, a survey shows.More...
AMP Capital Investors
to launch pure-play infrastructure fund
10 August 2010
Global portfolio manager Craig Noble said the
challenge facing Australian infrastructure
groups had been high debt, but refinancing had
resolved that issue. While the debt market was
frozen for property companies, it remained open
to infrastructure companies, indicating
confidence in the sector’s stable income
streams. More...
IMF settles Quantum,
QBE action
10 August 2010
IMF Australia has reached a conditional
settlement with financial services group Quantum
Securities and its insurer QBE Insurance on
behalf of investors in its Westpoint class
action. More...
APRA issues super
prudential practice guides
11 August 2010
APRA releases prudential practice guides to help
super trustees satisfy their licence conditions
and operating standards. The PPGs replace APRA’s
previously issued guidance in four areas, are
intended to assist trustees to satisfy licence
conditions and operating standards under the
Superannuation Industry (Supervision) (SIS) Act
and the relevant SIS Regulations. More...
Trustees warned as
APRA toughens guidances
11 August 2010
The Cooper Report’s recommendations for a
Trustee Code of Practice, the prudential
regulator APRA has released revised trusteeguidances
on capital structures, risk management,
resources adequacy and trustee fitness. The
revised guidances also remind trustees any
restrictions on trustee whistle blowing will not
be tolerated. More...
NAB deal threat as
policyholders pursue $2bn court claim against
Axa Asia Pacific
12 August
2010
A damages claim worth more than $2 billion
against Axa Asia Pacific by aggrieved policy
holders is expected to be lodged with the
Victorian Supreme Court. Despite the court’s
finding that Axa could not change the policy
terms, and with litigation continuing, the
insurance group has insisted in court arguments
that the value of the claim, which dates back to
2002, is zero. More...
ASIC prosecutions
releases prosecutions for April to June 2010
12 August 2010
Summary prosecutions of company officers - April
to Juen 2010. ASIC has successfully prosecuted
158 company officers between 1 April and 30 June
2010.
More...
ASIC disqualifies 13
directors of failed companies from managing
corporations. Between April and June 2010, the
ASIC disqualified 13 directors from managing
corporations following their involvement in
failed companies. More...
Financial Planners
being unjustly targeted
12 August 2010
There is an unfair bias in the reform agenda
against advisers, and more attention should be
paid to researchers and product providers,
according to the Financial Planning Association
and Fiducian’s managing director. He asserted
that in many cases of inappropriate advice,
advisers were acting upon information provided
to them about a product. More...
SPAA assists ATO with
SMSF verification service
12 August 2010
SPAA will participate in the testing of a new
ATO SMSF member verification service to be
launched later this year. The new ATO system is
designed to cut red tape for superannuation
funds regulated by the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority when processing member
rollover requests. More...
FSC backs $1bn
investment in super system
12 August 2010
A $1 billion investment by the superannuation
industry in the back office systems of all funds
in Australia is expected to give a $20 billion
return to the industry over the next 10 years,
according to research from the Financial
Services Council. More...
APRA defends rights on
capital requirements
12 August 2010
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
has defended its right to impose minimum capital
requirements on superannuation fund trustees,
even though it would not routinely do so. More...
FSC targets consumers
with brandmark
12 August 2010
A peak industry body for financial services is
to widen its advocacy to engage with consumers
in order to win back their trust in financial
products. The Financial Services Council (FSC),
formerly the Investment and Financial Services
Association, will stamp its members’ products
with its brandmark from 2012. More...
Great Southern legal
battle continues
12 August 2010
Lawyers are progressing with their legal
campaign against Great Southern, filing with the
Victorian Supreme Court further allegations
through a class action against the collapsed
agricultural investment scheme manager. More...
Shock of the new:
funds will make us pay for lower fees
14 August 2010
A report prepared by Ernst & Young for the
Financial Services Council found that while the
SuperStream proposals contained in the recent
Cooper review into super could slash $20 billion
off fund administrative costs over the next 10
years, some fund members will still find
themselves out of pocket. More...
Oakvale in $6.8m
Ceramic settlement
16 August 2010
West Perth financial advisory group Oakvale
Capital has settled a dispute with former client
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd, which will see Ceramic
and its litigation funder IMF Australia receive
$6.8 million.Ceramic sued
Oakvale to recover the full amount of its
investment losses, claiming it was misled by its
adviser into altering its investment policy to
allow the inclusion of CDOs. More...
More planners bypass
managed funds
17 August 2010
Fund managers are put on notice in a recent
investment study that found a growing number of
planners are placing their clients’ funds into
direct shares, ETFs, REITs and SMAs, leaving
only a fraction of inflows into traditional
managed funds. More...
Former Chartwell
director jailed
19 August 2010
Mr Ian Rau, the former company secretary of
Chartwell Enterprises Pty Ltd was charged with
running a financial services business without a
licence, engaging in dishonest conduct, making
and using a false document, and obtaining
property worth $40,000 by deception. The group’s
collapse caused another financial disaster for
Geelong, taking about $60 million worth of
investors’ money. More...
Mark Occhilupo and
former accountant settle dispute out of court
19 August 2010
An out of court settlement of the dispute was
reached between the parties, following evidence
being led by the accountant that he had provided
Mr Occhilupo with a cheque for $50,000 to invest
in the shares, the sum of which Mr Occhilupo had
claimed was a loan. More...
Landa relations wait
for decision in fraud case
19 August 2010
Family members of the former NSW
Attorney-General Paul Landa are facing financial
ruin due to the continuing fallout from a $15
million fraud. Dr Barry Landa, is suing
Perpetual Trustees Australia for $2.7 million in
cheques that he says the company cashed despite
knowing the Cincotta account was suspect. More...
Storm Financial report
has stalled
19 August 2010
A north Queensland economist says a report into
the failed Storm Financial still has not been
released, six months after the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) was
to complete it. More...
Deadline looms for
submissions on AXA
22 August 2010
The Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission is conducting market consultations
over NAB’s proposed bid for AXA APH. If
successful, it would be Australia’s second
biggest financial services takeover after
Westpac’s $16 billion takeover of St George Bank
in 2008. More...
Three pennies in the
fountain of Trio Capital losses
23 August 2010
The Albury fund manager Trio Capital is shaping
up as the worst case of superannuation theft in
Australian history, after $180 million in
investors’ money disappeared offshore. More...
ASFA calls on Cooper
to aid SuperStream reforms
23 August 2010
The Association of Superannuation Funds of
Australia has called the chair of the Super
System Review panel, to write a paper that will
outline the right framework to deliver key
SuperStream reforms. At present, the industry
already has standards, called SWIMEc, that are
set out to improve the efficiency of processing
super - but they are voluntary, not mandatory.More...
Challenger back in the
black, annuity sales trebles
23 August 2010
Challenger Financial Services has staged a
strong profit recovery during the year, buoyed
by a record performance from its annuities
business and a 22 per cent rise in gross assets
under management to almost $24 billion. More...
Zurich Insurance cops
record fine
25 August 2010
Zurich Insurance has been fined a record $4
million in Britain after losing the personal
details of tens of thousands of customers. The
Financial Services Authority said that Zurich
had put customers at risk by failing to put in
place sufficient controls to protect their data.More...
AustralianSuper seizes
infra leadership
25 August 2010
Demand for more infrastructure investment
creates huge investment opportunities for super
funds, and AustralianSuper intends taking a
leadership role. A major report
released by IPA in April this year called on
superannuation funds to consider stepping up
their investments into the sector. More...
Market volatility
wipes shine off super
26 August 2010
The new financial year is shaping up as another
roller-coaster ride for superannuation, as Super
funds turned in a strong 2 per cent-plus jump
for July to kick-start the new financial year.More...
Women jailed over
early release super
26 August 2010
A woman who pleaded guilty to nine charges
related to an illegal early release
superannuation scheme has been sentenced to 12
months’ imprisonment. ASIC said Palusi had been
convicted under section 62 and 202 of the
Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act
pertaining to the sole purpose test and
maintaining a self-managed super fund for any
purpose other than to provide retirement
benefits to the members. More...
Investors call
planners to charge performance-based fees
26 August 2010
Performance-based fees have traditionally been
the domain of fund managers - but research shows
a growing number of investors are urging
financial planners to start adopting this fee
structure. More...
Managed Funds,
Australia, June 2010
26 August 2010
At 30 June 2010, total consolidated assets of
managed funds institutions was $1,351.2b, a
decrease of $24.6b (2%) on the March quarter
2010 figure of $1,375.8b. Consolidated assets of
superannuation funds decreased $13.4b (2%);
public unit trusts decreased $6.3b (2%); life
insurance offices decreased by $4.5b (2%); cash
management trusts decreased $0.3b (1%); and
common funds decreased $0.1b (2%). Consolidated
assets of friendly societies remained virtually
the same. At 30 June 2010, investment managers
had $1,119.9b in funds under management, down
$34.2b (3%) on the March quarter 2010 figure of
$1,154.0b. They managed $757.3b (56%) of the
consolidated assets of managed funds
institutions. More...
APRA outlines keys to
good supervision
27 August 2010
A forward-looking supervision action plan
tailored to respective financial institutions is
the centrepiece of the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority’s successful approach to
supervision, according to APRA chairman John F
Laker. More...
Average fraud case
costs business owners $2 million, new report
shows
27 August 2010
Businesses must implement stringent measures to
detect and stop fraud when it first appears,
otherwise it will spiral out of control and end
up costing millions of dollars, the author of
KPMG’s Fraud Barometer warns. More...
Financial Services and
the test of time
30 August 2010
While the Australian financial services industry
escaped the global financial crisis (GFC)
without many of the disasters that befell
financial services globally, changes are afoot
around the world that will make life far more
testing for many in the industry. More...