As an investment bank, commodities trader and operator of toll roads, Australia’s Macquarie Group has inserted itself into most of our lives. A new book outlines some of the questionable tactics that took it to the top.
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Five years ago, Australia had 28,000 financial advisers. Today there are 16,000. So where can you get financial advice? A new report offers a good answer – and it’s something I used to argue against.
On Friday the government will receive a report likely to recommend a requirement for advice in a client’s “best interests” be replaced with a requirement to give mere “good advice”.
The royal commission wanted the corporate cop to first ask ‘why not litigate?’. The treasurer’s new guidelines suggest it should instead ask ‘why not negotiate?’.
“The need for change is undeniable,” says Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, issuing a timetable for dealing with recommendations from the royal commission into banking, superannuation and financial services.
Investigative journalist Adele Ferguson on the ‘disappointing’ banking royal commission and how she works with whistleblowers
The Conversation51.9 MB(download)
Today on Media Files, it's journalism versus the big banks. We're hearing from Adele Ferguson, the celebrated journalist who many credit as the driving force behind the banking royal commission.
The government has agreed to create an independently-chaired body to report on the performance of ASIC and APRA, but it hasn’t said its reports will be made public.
There’s concern that paying upfront for the services of mortgage brokers would frighten customers away. But it needn’t, if they provide good service and explain what are charging for.
Suddenly, ASIC is about to have real power. It’ll be easier to get prosecutions and they will hurt, even if the law remains less than completely clear.