Author Archives: ETE

Wholesale licensee Lanterne Fund Services Pty Ltd (Lanterne) has been ordered to pay a $1.25 million penalty by the Federal Court after it failed to comply with six of the general obligations of Australian financial services (AFS) licence holders. In proceedings brought by ASIC, the Court found Lanterne breached its AFS licence obligations between March […]

The Federal Court has ordered that Prospero Markets Pty Ltd (Prospero) be wound up on just and equitable grounds and that liquidators be appointed following an application by ASIC. ASIC applied for these orders because it holds a broad range of concerns regarding the management of Prospero’s business, including in relation to compliance with its […]

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) today published three vacancy notices in the context of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). This announcement comes as part of the establishment of a fully integrated team within the 3 ESAs (joint oversight team) to carry out the oversight of critical third-party providers (CTPPs) […]

Analysis by the FCA shows that asset managers are largely getting the research they need under the current rules. However, the current options available to UK asset managers can be operationally complex and may, in some instances, favour larger asset managers. The current rules can also restrict UK asset managers’ ability to buy investment research […]

The regulator found 7.4m people were struggling to pay bills and credit repayments in January 2024, down from 10.9m in January 2023. This is still higher than the 5.8m recorded in February 2020, before the cost of living squeeze began. As the FCA confirms stronger protections for borrowers, the regulator is reminding those in financial […]

Following an application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for review of a liquidator’s Disciplinary Committee’s decision, the AAT has decided that Cameron Lindsay Duncan’s liquidator registration should be reinstated, subject to conditions, for such time as he remains a non-resident of Australia. Mr Duncan applied to the AAT for a review of the Committee’s […]

ASIC has appealed the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss ASIC’s proceedings against Finder Wallet Pty Ltd for allegedly providing unlicensed financial services, breaching product disclosure requirements and failing to comply with design and distribution obligations in relation to its crypto-asset related product ‘Finder Earn’. ASIC had alleged that the Finder Earn product was a debenture. […]

The ESMA market report on EU securities financing transactions (SFT) markets provides first comprehensive market-level overview of the EU repo market, based on information reported by market participants. It contributes to ESMA’s financial stability objective, by monitoring repo market developments and providing key risk metrics for its monitoring framework on securities financing transactions. The main […]

Following an ASIC investigation, James Mawhinney, of Port Melbourne, Victoria, has been arrested and charged with four counts of engaging in dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business. It is alleged that on four occasions between 9 August 2019 and 21 April 2020, Mr Mawhinney dishonestly misrepresented to the trustee […]

Nicholas Benbow, director of William Buck Audit (Vic) Pty Ltd, has paid $20,625 to comply with 3 infringement notices issued by ASIC. This is the first time ASIC has issued an infringement notice under the Corporations Act for an alleged breach of audit rotation issues. The infringement notices were issued because ASIC has reasonable grounds […]