Companies

A Sydney rabbi who told the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse that he did not know touching a child's genitals was a crime has lost a defamation case against SBS and the Murdoch-owned Nationwide News, with the NSW Supreme Court finding that the media "accurately reported" the rabbi's own words.

Westpac is now facing at least eight class actions in various US courts seeking $200 million from the bank for allegedly failing to alert shareholders to violations of anti-money laundering laws.

A sideshow evidentiary dispute in a committal hearing in a landmark criminal cartel case against ANZ and two investment banks has drawn to a close, but not before testing the patience of a magistrate, who warned her ruling would be far from a "Rolls Royce decision".

JPMorgan has taken ANZ to task for its "heroic endeavours to create an air of suspicion" around the conduct of ASIC and the ACCC prior to the filing of a landmark criminal cartel case, slamming the allegations as purely speculative.

Westpac is facing its first shareholder class action in the US following revelations that it violated anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance laws on more than 23 million occasions, in the first lawsuit to point the finger at the company's executives.

Optus has paid a record $504,000 fine for violating spam laws by sending SMS and email messages to customers that had previously unsubscribed from the telco's giant's marketing communications.

ANZ is seeking information on whether the ACCC put pressure on ASIC to not pursue proceedings against JP Morgan over a $2.5 billion share placement that is at the centre of a closely watched criminal cartel case, saying the matter raised a "serious question" about potential abuse of power by the regulators.

A US-based plaintiffs firm is planning a class action against Westpac alleging it failed to alert investors to significant lapses in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance compliance, which led to a bombshell lawsuit by AUSTRAC last year.

A former Adelaide financial advisor that worked for a subsidiary of National Australia Bank has lost his bid for a temporary stay of a five-year ban for allegedly recommending that clients invest in failed fintech start-up Bux Global, after arguing the bad publicity could negatively affect the impending sale of his business.

A judge is expected to issue a temporary injunction Thursday barring Facebook and Instagram from blocking users who are customers of a Melbourne-based social media startup that has accused the companies of trying to quash competition.