Regulatory Compliance

Legal Agreements

    We constantly advise clients on regulatory compliance with legislation relevant to their financial products and services so  we have a real understanding of the issues affecting our clients and rarely have to reinvent the wheel.

    Key legislation we advise on includes:

    • Corporations Act:  in particular Chapter 7 FSR compliance –licensing applications and variations, FSR relationship and service identification, liability for representatives, compensation arrangements, accounting requirements, FSR disclosure obligations ( including FSG, GAW, SOA and records of advice, PDS, and advertising notices), process compliance and breach notification
    • The Insurance Act and Life Insurance Act:  authorisation of life and general insurers and reinsurers, compliance with APRA standards and other requirements e.g change in ownership under the FSSA and the new DOFI/UFI exceptions)
    • Insurance Contracts Act:  compliance of pre and post contractual conduct of insurers and insureds, insurance intermediaries and third party beneficiaries
    • ASIC Act and Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and relevant Fair Trading Acts: advice on restrictive trades practices, misleading and deceptive conduct, unconscionable conduct and unfair contracts. More recently the Cartel and price fixing changes and impact of new consumer guarantees under new Australian Consumer Law
    • Health insurance legislation: Privacy Act, Spam Act and Do Not Call Register legislation and standards
    • Anti-Money Laundering legislation
    • Consumer Credit Legislation:  compliance obligations under the legislation (including disclosure obligations, responsible lending obligations and general compliance obligations).
    • Relevant Discrimination Acts:  in particular regarding discriminatory conduct arising from the operation of product terms
    • Relevant taxation legislation such as Fire Services and Emergency Services Levies, Stamp Duty and GST
    • Franchising Code
    • Various State and Territory legislation affecting the insurance and credit industries, such as CTP, stamp duty, Fire Services Levy, secret commissions, workers compensation
    • United Nations sanctions legislation

    We also advise on compliance with:

        • Codes of Practice such as the General Insurance Code of Practices and Insurance Brokers Code of Practice
        • External Dispute resolution scheme terms of reference