Conduct Risk: A New & Emerging Risk For Energy Businesses
What is Conduct Risk Conduct risk refers to the risk that a company’s employees, agents, or contractors may engage in behaviour that is inappropriate, unethical,
Navigating Due Diligence: A Comprehensive Guide to Reducing Risk in Transactions
Due diligence is an essential process to follow to reduce risk in a variety of transactions. Due diligence is the structured process of investigating and
Managing the compliance of contractors
In many industries, a principal will be liable for any non-compliance by their contractors. What are some of the steps you can take to manage contractors?
When should you hire a compliance manager?
If you’re wondering if it’s time to hire a compliance manager, ask yourself how often you think about regulatory compliance and whether your business is across all regulatory obligations with appropriate controls in place. If the answer to the last question is not enough or no, it may be time to take on such an employee.
Investigating Regulatory Breaches
For an executive within an energy business, identifying a regulatory breach can be a gut-wrenching experience. Being told that your business has inadvertently breached the law, understandably raises concerns about the impact of the breach on your customers, stakeholders, and reputation.
In this post we look at the steps involved in identifying and reporting on a potential regulatory breach.
An Alternative to Compliance by Coercion
Alternatives to penalties are provided by the behavioural sciences, including command and control and economic instruments such as ‘nudging.’ The underlying concept is to create an environment in which individuals make choices based on nudges towards the desired state. This area is well-developed thanks to the advertising industry and, in the context of compliance, is considered to be ‘at the forefront of regulatory policy and governance.’
The use of Machine Learning in Compliance
The regulatory environment is evolving at a lightning pace. As a result, compliance officers must also keep up. To meet this challenge, AI applications have
ASIC’s report on regulatory technology
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has published a report (Report 685) on ASIC’s Regtech initiatives during 2019-2020. We’ve spoken previously about the benefits
Should Your Business Invest in a Compliance Management System?
Businesses around the world face challenges in managing regulatory compliance. Compliance requirements and the regulatory environment are constantly changing and there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.
Spot the difference: Legal vs Compliance
Many large businesses have both in-house legal teams and compliance teams. What is the difference between the two and how do you know if you
Are You putting Your Business at Risk with inadequate Compliance Controls?
History is littered with spectacular compliance failures; from Eron to WorldCom and the shocking findings of Australia’s recent Banking Royal Commission. And yet, we can
A summary of regulatory requirements for statements of advice
As noted in our previous article, a statement of advice is the main document that records advice provided to retail clients. The advice process Individuals
An introduction to Financial Product Advice
Financial advice is regulated under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) as financial product advice. The provision of financial product advice is a financial service and
A deeper look at the AFS licence application process
As we noted in our previous article there are five parts to form FS01. Below we describe these in more detail. Part A of the
How to obtain an AFSL
Regulatory guides are published by ASIC to give guidance to regulated entities by explaining when and how ASIC will exercise specific powers, to explain how
Webinar – Two New Codes for Banking and Lending
In our recent webinar focusing on the finance industry, regulatory specialist Dr Drew Donnelly consider two new codes for banking and lending. This year has
Webinar – The Compliance HUB – A Guide
In this webinar, Compliance Quarter founder Connor James provides an in-depth guide to the Compliance HUB software and its features. The presentation makes a great
Unfair Contract Terms
In March 2018, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) published REP 565 (found here: https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/find-a-document/reports/rep-565-unfair-contract-terms-and-small-business-loans/), which outlines changes to small business loan contracts made
New ASIC Guidance for the Fund Management Industry – Push on Compliance
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has just released a batch of guidance for fund management in Australia.[1] In today’s update we offer a
How do I work out my compliance spend?
In the just released final report of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) retail electricity pricing inquiry[1], energy retailers identified the rising cost of
Consumer data right – speech by Rod Sims Chairman of the ACCC
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair Rod Sims has delivered a speech to the National Consumer Data Policy Research Centre on the consumer
What is the new Financial Benchmark Regime?
On 12 June the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) announced the final regulatory regime for Financial Benchmarks. This regime, introduced through a 2018 amendment
Fintech and Regtech Developments – March, April, May 2018
We last summarised regulatory changes for financial and regulatory technology (fintech and regtech) in February.[1] Since then there have been a bunch of exciting developments
Understanding your breach reporting obligations as an AFS Licence Holder
Last month’s wealth management hearings before the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (Banking Royal Commission) highlighted the need
So, you’re interested in forming a bank in Australia?
Is it just us or is having your own digital bank the new must-have item at the moment? The announcement by APRA late last week