Finance Archives - Page 9 of 74 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

9 April , 2024

Life Insurance Annual Data and Compliance Report 2022-2023: The Fall and Rise of Breaches

Total breaches of Code obligations have increased for a third consecutive year according to the latest report released by the Life Insurance Code Compliance Committee (Life CCC). Despite the total breaches rising by 9%, the Annual Industry Data and Compliance Report found that the number of customers impacted by breaches declined between 1 July 2022 and 30…

5 April , 2024

Submission Call for National Competition Policy

The Productivity Commission is undertaking a study to assess the economic effects of national competition reforms. It is now inviting community members to share perspectives, experiences and expertise on national competition matters and modelling competition reforms. The Commission’s review is occurring against a backdrop of declining productivity growth in the past decade. As such, a…

5 April , 2024

CWES Statement on the Inquiry into Financial Abuse by the Parliamentary Joint Committee

The Centre for Women’s Economic Safety (CWES) welcomes the establishment of aParliamentary Inquiry into the effectiveness of financial services regulation in addressing financialabuse.The move follows calls by CWES for regulatory change so the financial sector can better respond tofinancial abuse and design safer financial products.More than 85% of women experiencing domestic and family violence experience…

4 April , 2024

ACCC Warns Consumers of Fake Business Invoice Scams

Australians are being urged to check payment details directly with a business before paying an emailed invoice, following a rise in losses to payment redirection scams. Last year, Australians reported losing $16.2 million to payment redirection scams. Despite the total number of reports to Scamwatch decreasing by 28 per cent, the total amount lost increased…

3 April , 2024

It’s time to give Australian courts the power to break up big firms that behave badly

Australian authorities have never had the power to break up big businesses that behave badly. It’s a power available to courts in the United States and elsewhere, but not here – at least not unless the Greens succeed with a bill now before the Senate. The so-called Competition and Consumer Amendment (Divestiture Powers) Bill would…

2 April , 2024

ACCAN’s Quick Guide for Consumers to the new Financial Hardship Standard

The telecommunications regulator, the ACMA, has developed a new regulation called the Telecommunications (Financial Hardship) Industry Standard (the FH standard). The FH Standard will commence on March 29, and compliance is mandatory.

28 March , 2024

ASIC Wins Greenwashing Case Against Vanguard

The Federal Court has found Vanguard Investments Australia contravened the law by making misleading claims about certain environmental, social and governance (ESG) exclusionary screens applied to investments in a Vanguard index fund. At a hearing before Justice O’Bryan on 8 March 2024, Vanguard admitted to engaging in conduct that was liable to mislead the public…

28 March , 2024

Continued Ban of Business Centrepay Use in Remote Australia Welcomed as Advocates Call for Broader Centrepay Reform

First Nations and other consumer advocates have welcomed the extension of ASIC’s interim Stop Order on Coral Coast Distributors (Cairns) Ptd Ltd trading as Urban Rampage (Urban Rampage) retail stores, where customers enter agreements to pay for goods on credit through Centrepay deductions. The original stop order was imposed because ASIC received complaints about Urban…

25 March , 2024

“Irresponsible” Car Loans on a “broader scale”: Consumers and advocates speak out against Money3 as ASIC sues over alleged breaches

Need to know Financial counsellors are sounding the alarm about an “irresponsible” car loan provider targeting people on low incomes. These consumer advocates say Money3 Loans is failing to properly assess whether its customers can pay off the loans, and is charging exorbitant interest rates on top of that. Last year the Australian Securities and…

25 March , 2024

Inquiry into Wholesale Investor and Wholesale Client Tests

On 20 March 2023, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services commenced an inquiry into the wholesale investor test for offers of securities (Section 708 of Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act 2001) and the wholesale client test for financial products and services (Sections 761G & 761GA of Chapter 7 of the Act) (referred…

22 March , 2024

Seeking CFA Member to Prepare a Submission to a Review of the AFIA Car Rental Code

The Australian Finance Industry Association (AFIA) is reviewing its Car Rental Code. Signatories of this code include Avis Budget Group, Hertz, Europcar, Thrifty, East Coast Car Rentals, Sixt, Bayswater Car Rental and Redspot/Enterprise. The Code ensures an industry standard is met on a number of issues, including transparency of pricing and credit card charging practices,…

18 March , 2024

Consumer Representative Opportunity: Buy Now Pay Later Code Compliance Committee

About the Opportunity Established in 2021, the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Code of Practice sets best practice standards for the sector and strengthens consumer protections. The BNPL providers accredited to this Code represent an estimated 95 percent of the BNPL market – Afterpay, Brighte, Humm Group, Klarna, Payright, Plenti and Zip Co. The Australian…