Newspaper icon
The latest issue of Financial Standard now available as an e-newspaper
READ NOW

Regulatory

UK watchdog to open Australian office

JAMIE WILLIAMSON  |  THURSDAY, 24 APR 2025
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will open an office in Australia so that the regulator can assist UK firms in entering the local market and vice versa.

ASIC loses Block Earner case

KARREN VERGARA  |  WEDNESDAY, 23 APR 2025
The Federal Court has vindicated Block Earner by overturning a decision that it needed an AFSL to offer its Earner product and dismissing ASIC's appeal to impose penalties on the digital asset platform.

Government to 'crack down further' on financial abuse

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  WEDNESDAY, 23 APR 2025
The government will introduce new measures to target perpetrators of financial abuse, as part of its gender equality plan Building Australia's Future: Labor's Commitment to Women, launched yesterday by Labor senator Katy Gallagher and minister for social ...

Advisers seek investment philosophy, performance in managed accounts provider

KARREN VERGARA  |  WEDNESDAY, 23 APR 2025
Investment philosophy and portfolio performance are the main reasons why financial advisers have chosen their managed accounts provider, new research from Zenith Investment Partners show.

Falcon Capital, First Guardian fund to be wound up

MATTHEW WAI  |  FRIDAY, 11 APR 2025
Following the order to freeze the assets of the First Guardian Master Fund and its responsible entity Falcon Capital last month, the Federal Court has ordered both the fund and the entity to be wound up.

ASIC asks for input on reportable situations, IDR dashboards

JAMIE WILLIAMSON  |  THURSDAY, 10 APR 2025
The corporate regulator plans to introduce two interactive dashboards that would track firm-level reportable situations and internal dispute resolution (IDR) data to push financial firms to lift their game.

NPP not suitable as the primary payment system for payday super

MATTHEW WAI  |  WEDNESDAY, 9 APR 2025
Payday super, coming into effect 1 July 2026 pending the current draft legislation, could bring a world of problems once introduced, including payroll and tax obligations for Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), experts claimed.

Three AFS licensees pinged over compliance breaches

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  WEDNESDAY, 9 APR 2025
Three AFS licensees - Australian Advice Network, IA Advice, and Sherrin Partners Services - have copped infringement notices from ASIC after their financial advisers provided personal advice while unregistered. Each licensee paid a $31,300 penalty in ...

DWS fined $43m for greenwashing

JAMIE WILLIAMSON  |  THURSDAY, 3 APR 2025
DWS will pay $43 million (US$27m) to settle a long-running greenwashing case brought by Frankfurt prosecutors.

The tax system is being weaponised to inflict abuse, ombudsman says

ANDREW MCKEAN  |  THURSDAY, 3 APR 2025
Over two million Australians, mostly women, have suffered financial abuse at the hands of an intimate partner, sometimes through the weaponisation of the tax system, with impacts that can be "devastating and long-lasting" to survivors and their families ...