This article compares reforms to directors' liability for insolvent trading in Singapore and in Australia. The authors analyse the law in these two countries because they are important Asia-Pacific trading partners and their laws were originally largely the same – Singapore's law on insolvent...

Internal dispute resolution (IDR) is an essential part of the dispute resolution framework for resolving the complaints by consumers about products or services provided by Australian financial firms. Consumers must first raise their complaint with the financial firm before they can ask the...

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) views enforcement as an important part of its regulatory role and dedicates a significant amount of resources to surveillance and enforcement activity. This article considers what kinds of enforcement outcomes ASIC achieves and what...

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has emphasised the importance of its enforcement role in relation to auditors and liquidators. However, there is little detailed analysis of what enforcement action ASIC has undertaken against auditors and liquidators. Using several...

The Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman (ABIO) was the first external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme set up and funded by industry members at a national level in Australia. It came into operation in 1990. The ABIO was a significant first step in the development of EDR schemes to resolve...

An important factor that is critical to the quality of financial advice is enforcement of the laws relevant to financial advisers. To what degree are these laws enforced and, where they are enforced, what types of enforcement action does Australia's corporate and securities regulator - the...

A controversial development in the law of directors’ duties has been the use by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of the ‘stepping stones approach’ to directors’ liability whereby ASIC argues that a director or officer contravened their duty of care by causing...

Australia’s corporate and securities regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has extensive enforcement powers that it can use to ensure compliance with the law. One of these is the power to issue infringement notices. An infringement notice specifies a monetary...

Charities are an essential part of Australian civil society and make fundamental contributions to social cohesion and well-being, as well as to the Australian economy. Public trust and confidence in the sector has, however, been damaged by high profile governance failures, despite the advent of...

There is increasing recognition of the need to evaluate and reconsider the future of the corporate form, particularly in the context of purpose-based endeavours. This article proposes that the Federal Government consider, and consult on, the introduction of a specialist legal structure for...