Australia

Data Privacy

ACCC Delays Open Banking Launch for More Testing

By Editors | 20/12/2019

Under the new timeline, consumers can direct the major banks to share credit and debit card, deposit and transaction data from July 2020, and mortgage and personal loan data from November 2020.

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

Westpac Ordered to Pay A$9.15m Penalty for Poor Advice

By Editors | 20/12/2019

In addition to the A$9.15 million penalty, Westpac is required to pay ASIC’s legal costs, and A$12.7 million in compensation to clients that received bad advice from one of the bank’s adviser.

Anti-Money Laundering

BSP Probes Ten Banks Linked to Westpac AML Violations

By Editors | 19/12/2019

The banks received funds for their clients through the Bank of the Philippine Islands, which was the local partner of the Westpac money transfer service known as LitePay.

Operational Risk

ANZ Announces New Remediation Costs to ‘Fix’ 3.4m Customer Accounts

By Editors | 19/12/2019

At its AGM on Tuesday, ANZ announced an additional A$682mn charge for remediation work, where a total 3.4 million accounts “need fixing”.

Cybersecurity

Cyber Resilience Practices at Financial Firms Improving: ASIC

By Editors | 19/12/2019

Improvements have been seen at larger firms in response planning, mitigation action planning, and to ensure events that occur are contained, do not propagate, and neutralised as quickly as possible.

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

ASIC Approves ABA’s Updated Banking Code of Practice

By Editors | 18/12/2019

ASIC has given its final approval for the new version of the Banking Code of Practice, which implements recommendations from the Royal Commission.

Supervision & Enforcement

ASIC Launches Court Proceedings Against NAB Over Service Fees

By Editors | 18/12/2019

NAB is alleged to have broken the law more than 12,000 times by charging customers fees for no service and issuing defective fee disclosure statements.

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

ASIC Urges More Progress to Improve Insurance in Superannuation

By Editors | 18/12/2019

ASIC has observed improvements by a “significant number of trustees” as a result of the industry’s implementation of the Insurance in Superannuation Voluntary Code of Practice.

Fraud, Scams & Cybercrime

New Zealand Passes Bill to End Predatory Lending

By Editors | 17/12/2019

Effective from April 2021, the bill will cap the interest and fees on loans at 100% of the loan amount and introduce a 0.8% per day rate cap for high-cost loans.