A judge has criticised the pleadings in class actions against ANZ, Macquarie and Westpac over flexible commission schemes for car dealers, saying they were “inappropriate and unhelpful” in referring to documents in the banking royal commission.
The law firm running class actions against ANZ and Westpac has been pulled up for claiming confidentiality over a solicitor’s affidavits on the costs incurred by the applicants since the court approved settlements in the cases.
ASIC has won its bid to appoint receivers to a managed investment scheme run by Keystone Asset Management after expressing “grave concerns” that investor funds were used to pay sports stars and buy a $4.3 million home for its former director.
A former financial advisor at the now-defunct Growth Plus Financial Group has been convicted on 28 counts of fraud and jailed for 12 years for defrauding clients of $6 million, in conduct a judge described as “evil” and “systematic”.
A three-day penalty hearing in action against payday lenders BSF Solutions and Cigno — in which ASIC is seeking a multi-million dollar fine — has been put on ice until after a challenge to a finding that they were unlicensed credit providers.
An ANZ employee has lost her application in the Fair Work Commission to work from home full time on the basis that she is over 55 years old, with a commissioner saying there was no “rational connection” between her age and the request.
Banks targeted in long-running class actions over flexible commission schemes for car dealers are resisting the plaintiffs’ bid to amend their pleadings to “get around” the defence that certain claims are time-barred.
A former manager of BBY has been handed a two and half year sentence after pleading guilty to criminal charges following the stockbroking firm’s collapse.
The patent office has rejected Visa’s application to patent a token system for securing customer data, finding the process did not address a technical problem or provide a technical solution.
The liquidator of failed global financial services firm Babcock & Brown is seeking to permanently stay a shareholder suit it says is an abuse of process, nearly five years after three other cases against the liquidator were thrown out.