Archived News for Finance Sector Professionals

Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer David Bradbury have released an options paper setting out a pathway for regulatory reform of Australia's insolvency industry.

Legislation has been introduced to Federal parliament to ensure that capital gains and franked distributions can continue to be 'streamed' through trusts.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released a consultation paper on the form and content of the compliance report that each of Australia’s credit rating agencies must lodge with ASIC annually as part of moves to help boost the integrity and standards of Australia’s financial system.


Consultation Paper 160 Credit rating agencies: IOSCO Code Annual Compliance Report (CP 160) proposes implementing reporting requirements for credit rating agencies (CRAs) concerning their compliance with obligations on matters such as the quality and integrity of their ratings process, conflicts of interest management and the transparency and timeliness of ratings disclosure.


ASIC Chairman, Greg Medcraft, said the proposals – which are the subject of consultation with industry – are aimed at requiring CRAs to detail how they’ve met their licence conditions, which include complying with the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Code of Conduct Fundamentals for CRAs.


‘ASIC sees establishing reporting standards, together with setting Australian financial services (AFS) licence conditions and ongoing industry-wider surveillance, as its core regulatory tools in supervising CRAs,’ Mr Medcraft said.


‘Reporting by CRAs helps give ASIC, and therefore the broader market, insight into the operations of CRAs and as such, some degree of reassurance to investors in the integrity of issued credit ratings.’


Specifically, the proposed reporting requirement would require CRAs to provide a narrative description of any implemented or planned measures that have the aim of ensuring compliance with eleven obligations referrable to the IOSCO Code and the CRAs’ AFS licence conditions.


'We consider that the information reported in the compliance report will provide ASIC with a form of comfort that the CRAs have measures in place designed to ensure that they comply with their obligations, at a reasonable compliance cost to CRAs,’ Mr Medcraft said.


Consultation with industry on the proposals in the paper will continue until 13 July 2011, after which ASIC will consider implementing the reporting requirement, taking into account the results of the consultation.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is unlikely to announce an interest rate increase at its June meeting this week, according to a report in The Financial Review.

One of Australia’s largest insurance agencies, AAMI, has announced it will shut its 24 offices nationwide and move to a purely online service model.

A new white paper by Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST) Industry Super has found that many Australians are abandoning the dream of owning their own home, predicting that 25% of Australians may not own their own home when they retire in 25-35 years compared to 15% today.

The increasing current account deficit, the discrepancy between the value of goods imported and that of goods exported, is widening according to recent findings. The continued widening of the country’s terms of trade can be considered an indicator to a possible drop in gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.

The secretary-general of the world’s largest banking regulatory group, the Basal Committee for Banking Supervision, has warned of the inevitability of another global financial crisis.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has ruled that the seven university shareholders of Australia’s Open Universities association will not have their dividends taxed.

Resourcehouse has announced its first initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong securities exchange, launching in initial share sale of $3.37 billion ($HK 28.12 billion). 

Rural and regional small-to-medium businesses (SMEs) are growing faster than their metropolitan counter-parts thanks to the influx of funds from the mining boom, disaster recovery funding and good agricultural output, according to a monthly economic report released by the ANZ.

ANZ has announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) which outlines intent to co-invest in the future development of trade and energy, infrastructure and engineering projects in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region.

Out-of-cycle rate increases are a possibility if Standard & Poors continues with its intended overhaul of its lending system, according to reports.

The Federal Government’s push for the establishment of a carbon tax has been significantly bolstered following the release of a new climate change report.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has published its findings on the ‘social impact of misconduct in the financial services industry’.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has announced her government’s intentions to prioritize the reconstruction of the state ahead of any bid to reclaim its AAA credit rating, according to a report in The Financial Review.

Finance professionals and other skilled workers will enjoy increasing employment demand over the next five years according to a new report published by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the number of new housing finance commitments fell by 1.5 per cent in March, continuing a downward trend in home lending.

The Financial Services Council has welcomed infrastructure initiatives in the 2011 Federal Budget, saying they would make infrastructure a more attractive investment for superannuation funds and fund managers.

The Australian Small Scale Offerings Board (ASSOB), Australia's capital raising platform for equity raisings for smaller companies, has set a target of list 100 companies to raise up to $100 million in the 2011-12 financial year.