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Showing 631 - 640 of 7414 results for "Consumer"

'Licensee for hire' fined $1.25m by court

JAMIE WILLIAMSON  |  THURSDAY, 11 APR 2024
Lanterne Fund Services was issued a $1.25 million penalty by the Federal Court for failing to comply with basic obligations, including operating with almost no compliance staff or risk management processes. In July 2022, ASIC issued civil penalty proceedings ...

Government introduces company merger overhaul

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  WEDNESDAY, 10 APR 2024
... regulator decides that they don't raise any competition concerns. The average period for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to process merger authorisations has been 171 days. Chalmers and Leigh added that they plan to introduce ...

Why aged care advice needs tougher regulation

KARREN VERGARA  |  WEDNESDAY, 10 APR 2024
... risk leading to a prevalence of superficial, often conflicted advice, no regulatory oversight, and a lack of essential consumer protections, which may place the client at substantial risk and lead to decisions that are not well-informed." The consultation ...

Morningstar warns of stretched valuations in Australian equities

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  TUESDAY, 9 APR 2024
... rears its head again, some of the optimism could come out of share prices for banks and other recent winners, including consumer cyclicals, REITs, and tech stocks," he said. "Geopolitics and global conflicts, China's stimulus inflating commodities, and ...

Australian housing crisis escalates as affordability worsens

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  MONDAY, 8 APR 2024
... demand growth." Exacerbating the constraints on housing supply, bankruptcies in the construction industry have eroded consumer confidence, swaying many towards buying existing homes over building new ones, resulting in fewer building approvals and a ...

Super advice fee deductions compound red tape: JAWG

KARREN VERGARA  |  MONDAY, 8 APR 2024
... red tape when it comes to setting up an ongoing adviser arrangement with trustees to pay for advice and no additional consumer protections, when the overarching objective of the bill is to lessen compliance and administrative burdens. In introducing ...

Super funds' IDR process weak, inadequate: AFCA

KARREN VERGARA  |  FRIDAY, 5 APR 2024
... without needing a recommendation or determination. "If AFCA refers a case as an 'IDR referral', this is because the consumer has not engaged with the trustees' IDR process and escalate straight to AFCA," he told the recent AFCA Member Forum. ...

Financial Conduct Authority cracks down on finfluencers, firms

KARREN VERGARA  |  THURSDAY, 28 MAR 2024
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is cracking down on finfluencers as more financial services firms turn to social media to promote products and services. The financial services regulator is aiming to get on top of firms that illegally promote ...

Tranche one of advice reforms hits parliament

KARREN VERGARA  |  WEDNESDAY, 27 MAR 2024
... person who provides personal advice to a retail client about a life risk insurance product, general insurance product or consumer credit insurance and receives a commission in connection with the issue or sale of that product must obtain the client's ...

Why this fundie sees the economy making a hard landing

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  MONDAY, 25 MAR 2024
'Goldilocks' soft-landing view, deteriorating consumer health and a poor growth outlook this Australian reporting season hints at a hard landing. "After digesting the latest information from reporting season results and company meetings our analysis ...