ASIC’s case accusing Westpac of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid should be heard “as quickly as the court can deal with it”, a judge has said.
Japanese bankng giant SMBC has emerged as the latest lender with exposure to an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based Forum Finance, with proceedings filed seeking recovery of almost $99 million it says it paid to a unit of Forum Group and controversial director Bill Papas.
A senior partner at Jones Day and member of the advisory committee to the Australian Law Reform Commission has been appointed Westpac’s new group general counsel.
Zurich Group life insurance subsidiary OnePath Life will refund $35 million to 40,000 customers who were sold life insurance over the phone and were subject to “egregious” sales practices.
Investment banks accused in the criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement will not lose their right to a fair trial with the release of a judgment finding the prosecutors’ indictment deficient, a judge has ruled.
The Federal Court has ordered the winding up of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and French investment bank Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, as details of the company’s jetsetting director’s planned return to Australia from Europe remain murky.
Dixon Advisory has agreed to pay a $7.2 million penalty after admitting to ASIC’s allegations that it failed to act in its clients’ best interests on 53 occasions.
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 ordered the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to file a replacement indictment to address defects in the document at the centre of its criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement in August 2015.
A Sydney-based broker is facing a class action investigation on behalf of customers who bought binary options over a six-year period, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission banned the risky derivatives earlier this year after finding they were likely to cause “significant detriment”.