BFCSA Blog

Horrific scenes at HEIRISSON ISLAND Perth.  Frequented by large Community of Australian Homeless.  These people included many children, and youngest 6 months old.  They are asking for LAND to set up camp for Homeless.  WA Government ordered the tenth removal of all persons and confiscation of all possessions.  Banner torn down saying "Homeless Community."  All persons have lost their tents and possessions and one small child complained they had taken her "Teddy."  Perth has new escalating groups of underemployed and unemployed.  A couple say they are from Victoria as there is nowhere to live there.  RENTS too high...................Perth climate is warmer.   Police moved in - just doing their job.  No winners here.  But Banker CEO's live in high rises above the comparative squalor of the camps only 1 km from the city of Perth.  A backpacker couple had dropped in and stayed for four months....why not?  No rent and right...

ASIC to nail second big bank on misconduct 5 April 2016  http://www.afr.com/street-talk/asic-to-nail-second-big-bank-on-misconduct-20160403-gnxhry  The corporate regulator is set to ramp up its attack on potential bank-bill rate riggers and trader misconduct, launching action against a second major Australian bank as early as Tuesday. Sources told Street Talk the action related to senior staff within another treasury division of a big four bank and the market chat functions used between them. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has delved into the communications of all the large banks and in this latest instance is said to have uncovered the use of aggressive and inappropriate language. An ASIC spokesman declined to comment on specific cases saying only that the regulator was "looking at all the banks." This follows the regulator kicking off court proceedings against ANZ Banking Group in March alleging traders manipulated the bank-bill-swap rate. The ASIC documents were quite damning for ANZ in...

ASIC boss backs Funke Kupper in face of bribery scandal AM By AM business editor Peter Ryan Posted Tue 22 Mar 2016, 8:31am The chairman of Australia's corporate regulator has taken the unusual step of publically backing the former chief executive of the Australian Securities Exchange, who resigned suddenly yesterday in the face of a bribery scandal. In a surprise decision, Elmer Funke Kupper quit over allegations surrounding a $200,000 payment to the family of Cambodia's prime minister while he was chief executive of the gaming company Tabcorp. The integrity of listed companies including ASX Limited is overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). While not commenting on the Australian Federal Police investigation into Tabcorp's activities in Cambodia, ASIC boss Greg Medcraft told the ABC's AM program that Mr Funke Kupper's resignation was a sad loss. "It's very unfortunate. Elmer is a really creative, talented CEO. I think he's...

Malcolm Turnbull’s push for double dissolution faces challenge in Senate and Court Crossbenchers, Greens and Labor ponder political and constitutional moves to counter prime minister’s risky strategy 21 March 2016  http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/21/malcolm-turnbulls-push-for-double-dissolution-faces-challenge-in-senate-and-courts  A double-dissolution election on 2 July appears likely as Senate crossbenchers insist they will not pass Malcolm Turnbull’s industrial laws, but the prime minister’s high-risk political tactics could also provoke a Senate rebellion and a constitutional challenge. Turnbull announced on Monday he had asked the governor general to recall parliament for three weeks from 18 April to consider the long-stalled industrial laws, and declared that he would call a double-dissolution election for 2 July if they were not passed. With Labor and the Greens implacably opposed to the laws, Turnbull needs six of the eight crossbench senators to pass the bills. On the current positions of the crossbench senators that appears very unlikely.     Bob Day launches high court...

Watchdog moves on Henry Kaye-linked scheme DateDecember 18, 2015 (29)                 Royce Millar, Ben Schneiders, Simon Johanson      Henry Kaye leaving the Magistrates Court in 2007 Photo: Penny Stephens A massive land banking scam linked to notorious property spruiker Henry Kaye is in tatters after the corporate regulator moved to wind up housing projects in Melbourne's outer west and Bendigo. In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, ASIC said it was concerned the companies behind the two schemes were insolvent and that investors who had bought lots or options may have been mislead. The two projects – among about 10 such schemes in Victoria and Queensland – are known as Foscari in Wyndham and Hermitage in Bendigo. The ASIC statement noted that Foscari and Hermitage projects were not close to completion and "appear to be incapable of completion due to the financial position of the development companies". The focus of a...

ASIC shifting the blame again...read the comments   Brokers responsible for more than half of interest-only lending, ASIC reveals   18 December 2015   http://www.brokernews.com.au/news/breaking-news/brokers-responsible-for-more-than-half-of-interestonly-lending-asic-reveals-210100.aspx   More than half of interest-only loans come through the third party channel, corporate regulator ASIC has revealed ahead of its forthcoming review of mortgage brokers in regards to interest-only lending.Speaking at the FBAA conference held on the Gold Coast in November, ASIC senior executive leader – deposit takers, credit & insurers, Michael Saadat announced that the regulator would turn its focus to mortgage brokers following its recent review of banks in regards to interest-only lending.Saadat has now revealed to Australian Broker that the shift in focus has come after its review of lenders found that interest-only loans through the broker channel increased by 8% over two years. “Since 2012, the proportion of interest-only loans sold through the broker channel has gone up from 49% to 57% as of the fourth...

ASIC still don’t “get it” as to who manufactures defective financial products...   ASIC turns its attention to mortgage brokers   19 November 2015 hthttp://www.smartline.com.au/2015/11/asic-turns-its-attention-to-mortgage-brokers/   Following up on its recent review of interest-only home loans provided by major lenders, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is now moving to look into the same products provided by mortgage brokers. Michael Saadat, ASIC senior executive leader, noted that consumers were calling out for the new review after the release of the findings from the major lenders inquiry in August 2015. “Ever since publishing our report on interest-only loans and getting the lenders to agree to make the necessary changes, I keep getting asked by lenders what is ASIC doing to make sure brokers will also make changes to their processes,” Mr Saadat said, at the FBAA conference, as reported by Australian Broker Online on November 16. The recent reviews come as...

Hiding behind the law.......   Implications for ASIC after Daniels by Tim Bednall 7 November 2002 Ruling http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/1304/implications-for-asic-after-daniels.aspx   Since the High Court decision in Yuill in 1991, ASIC has required parties that are the subject of its investigations to provide privileged information.  However, the recent High Court decision in Daniels held that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) cannot compel the production of confidential lawyer-client communications when exercising its investigative powers under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth).  This judgment is likely to have significant implications for ASIC investigations. The ASIC ActUnder the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth), ASIC is given three broad investigative powers, namely:the power to conduct an examination of a person if ASIC has reasonable grounds to believe the person can give information relevant to a matter that ASIC is investigating (Part 3, Division 2); the power to give a direction requiring the production...

ASIC orders extra CBA reviews   17 December 2015 http://www.ifa.com.au/news/15520-asic-orders-extra-cba-client-reviews   Two CBA dealer groups have been ordered by ASIC to review the 6 client files of 17 advisers after a report found the groups did not have a "reasonable basis" in an initial review. Last year, the regulator appointed KordaMentha Forensic to examine the steps taken by Commonwealth Financial Planning (CFPL) and Financial Wisdom (FWL) in 2012 to identify any clients who received poor advice from "high-risk advisers". KordaMentha's second report, which ASIC released today, states that the groups took reasonable steps to identify which clients of a group of former advisers should have been included in a compensation program. It also states that CFPL and FWL took reasonable steps to identify other potentially high-risk advisers. However, KordaMentha found that the groups did not have a reasonable basis for the process they used to determine whether a group of the...

Australia headed for recession – Yanis Varoufakis former Greece Finance Minister1 December 2015 Mark Mulligan http://www.canberratimes.com.au/business/markets/australia-headed-for-recession-yanis-varoufakis-former-greek-finance-minister-20151126-gl8w8r.html   Australia is headed towards recession, according to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who argues that weak domestic investment and the slowdown in China will ultimately put the brakes on growth. Speaking to Fairfax Media on Monday, the one-time Sydney University economics lecturer said China was crucial to Australia's fortunes, but the world's second-biggest economy was "not at the stage of development where it can continue to defy the global deflationary atmosphere".  "There will be a recession in Australia, because of the collapse of investment and because of the collapse of animal spirits – and this is because of what's happening in China," he said.  In that scenario, a short, sharp shock would be preferable to the entrenched, or secular, low or zero growth pattern that has taken hold in countries such as Japan.   Europe, too, is currently battling...

ASIC should fight online fraud faster – report By Jane Lee Sept. 9, 2015   http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/3339156/asic-should-fight-online-fraud-faster-report/   Corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission must respond to online financial crimes far more quickly, with questions raised about its ability to detect them, a parliamentary inquiry says.  Australians – especially Indigenous communities – were increasingly at risk of financial crimes ranging from money laundering and identity fraud in the digital age, a joint parliamentary committee on law enforcement has said.  Corporate and financial regulators needed to improve their ability to target and combat such crimes as a result, their report, published on Tuesday, said. The committee took a swipe at ASIC, saying it needed to deal more quickly with fast-moving internet financial scams in real time. It described ASIC's response to a scam against an unnamed credit provider, as "very tardy".  The National Financial Services Federation told the committee it took ASIC 223 days to...

ASIC not up to product intervention – lawyer   31 July 2015 Mike Taylor   http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/news/financial-planning/asic-not-product-intervention-lawyer   The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) does not have the culture or the expertise to administer product intervention powers, according to specialist financial services lawyer, Peter Bobbin. Bobbin told a panel session at the Money Management Platforms & Wraps Conference at Magenta Shores, that he believed the handing of product intervention powers to ASIC would prove problematic as it was currently structured and orientated. In doing so, Bobbin said that the consequences for ASIC were already manifesting themselves in threatened legal action against the regulator over a failed action against a company. However, ASIC commissioner, Greg Tanzer, said he believed the regulator would treat such an intervention power carefully and that it's ability to recognise product problems should not be underestimated. "We have actually shown that we are pretty good at picking losers," he said...

By Houses and Holes in Australian Property, Australian recession at 12:45 pm on June 5, 2015 http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2015/06/the-dumbest-bubble-in-history-is-the-rbas/   Chris Joye doesn’t mince words today:   There’s only one party to blame for Australia’s unprecedented house price bubble. And it’s not buyers, vendors, developers, immigrants or local councils restricting new approvals. While they have all contributed to the underlying demand and supply dynamics, the unsustainable price growth across Sydney and Melbourne since January 2013 is squarely the responsibility of the monetary policy mandarins residing in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Martin Place headquarters. It is these folks who dismissed our repeated warnings that they were blowing the mother of all bubbles and instead decided that the cheapest mortgage rates in history—enabled by cutting the cash rate a full 100 basis points below its global financial crisis nadir – is the elixir required to maintain “trend” growth. Never mind that this might actually...

CBA profits from Malta tax haven ·      by: Richard Gluyas, Banking ·      From: The Australian ·      November 16, 2009 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/cba-profits-from-malta-tax-haven/story-e6frg8zx-1225797981283   COMMONWEALTH Bank is reaping the rewards of its "post-box" banking operation in low-tax Malta, booking a $55 million benefit last financial year from lower offshore tax rates. The benefit was almost double its nearest big four rival, suggesting that the structure set up by CBA in the Mediterranean island nation is generating tens of millions of dollars in tax benefits. Malta is no longer regarded by the Australian Taxation Office as a tax haven, but was blacklisted as such earlier this year in proposed US legislation that was co-sponsored by Barack Obama when he was a senator. The CBA holding company Newport, which has a $5 billion balance sheet, is domiciled in Malta.  Newport, in turn, owns CommBank Europe, which has held a Maltese banking licence since 2005, employing a...

Only 89 cases of white collar crime in Australia?  What about the 18% of fraudulent loan applications penned by bank officers and no brokers involved?  The fraud is occurring after the applications are sent in to the 17 Major Lenders who are the worst offenders.  We have reported over 2000 of these to ASIC. The public are tired of ASIC suggesting it gets "tough." Time is long overdue to investigate Lenders and their asset stripping strategies.  This is why there are over 14 Inquiries to date on Loan app fraud.  ASIC employs over 300 investigators to take action in 89 cases?  Time for a Royal Commission into the entire banking sector if we are really serious about protecting consumers.  These sub prime loans will impact the economy. Bank on it. ASIC flexes muscles against fraud in financial services (its  A SIC JOKE!) Australian Broker News by Julia Corderoy | 02 Feb 2015   The...

That's not a debt disaster  -  This IS a debt disaster:  Joe and Tony's big con 11 October 2014 Alan Austin http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/thats-not-a-debt-disaster--this-is-a-debt-disaster-joe--tonys-big-con,6984 Alan Austin presents another exclusive report the mainstream media will not touch — Australia’s rapidly escalating borrowings since Abbott and Hockey came to office promising to end ‘Labor’s debt disaster’. AUSTRALIA’S DEBT since Joe Hockey took charge of the nation’s finances has increased dramatically.  The rate of expansion shows no signs of slowing.  Monthly finance figures for July and August were quietly released yesterday — late on Friday night, several weeks late, after seemingly being sat on by Cormann for at least a week*.  They show the Abbott Government has achieved precisely the opposite of its solemn pre-election undertaking to bring about   ‘… a reduction of $30 billion in net debt.’ In July and August alone – two months for which it is impossible for PM Tony Abbott to blame...

RBA needs to address Australia's property bubble: UBS The Economy September 16, 2014 Bianca Hartge-Hazelman http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/rba-needs-to-address-australias-property-bubble-ubs-20140916-10hex2.html 'Lazy analysis': Joe Hockey dismisses bubble talk $A overvalued, says internal RBA document RBA awake to property bubble risks UBS global chief economist Larry Hatheway has warned that unless the Australian dollar falls below US85c in the near future, the Reserve Bank may have little choice but to use other tools besides changing rates to ward off bubble-like conditions in the property market. Speaking as he was wrapping up a tour of Australia, Mr Hatheway observed that just as Australia was beginning to wean itself off its dependence in the mining goods sector, it must now rebalance its economy towards consumption, as well as investment in other areas of exports.  "That's going to require, in my view, a weaker exchange rate. Getting from here to there though will be difficult. The Reserve Bank could facilitate...

Peter Kell, Deputy Chair of ASIC,  Dear Pete, you cannot continue the 16 year old crappy suggestion you are doing a CRACK DOWN on crooks.  You can no longer look at an advertisement and hand out a parking ticket to a Major Bank. Oxford Dictionary: CRACKDOWN A series of severe measures to restrict undesirable or illegal people or behaviour: a crackdown on white collar crime.    Pete a CRACKDOWN it does not suggest a parking fine for an ad!!!!  But we should have a CRACKDOWN on dud regulators!!! A CRACKDOWN IS WHERE YOU LOOK AT CONSUMER LOSSES AND RUINED LIVES, instruct the AFP, ROUND UP THE BANKERS, THROW THEM OVER THE BONNET OF THEIR FANCY CARS, HANDCUFF THEM AND HEAD OVER TO THE CDDP.    I explained this to you in our 2004 meeting in the Melbourne ZOO, remember?  Let's get a move on!  Its not about saying "oops adv is a tincy wincy bit misleading.  Its looking...

http://www.crikey.com.au/2001/05/20/if-hih-gets-a-royal-commission-what-about-this-4-billion-loss/ If HIH gets a Royal Commission what about this $4 billion loss May 20, 2001 12:00AM Mortgage broker campaigner Denise Brailey is a true Crikey hero and in her latest excellent column she is calling for a probe into the losses of up to $4 billion in a variety of dodgy mortgage schemes.  Scathing criticism as to why no prosecutions took place abound on each page - we have a full set of docs on this one! Considering ASIC was bestowed with more powers than Mario in 1998, why has the regulatory one, failed to revoke exemptions for solicitors, who were running amok with elderly investors hard earned pennies? The Real Estate Consumer Association (“RECA”) - runs on a considerably less budget than ASIC - yet has managed to uncover $1.7 Billion of defaulting loans across Australia and at least $800 Million missing in action. In reality, the figure of...

BIG POINT HERE IS:  There are 100 plus, on our list of villains........................why hasn't ASIC closed them down? Behind all these spruikers there are Bankers as when the time is right to hit these poorest of people will be fed like christians to the lions - to the lenders with the worst track record for future loans!!!!   Behind every misleading Spruiker there is a hidden evil Banker. Why hasn't Parliament outlawed PROPERTY SPRUIKERS when we complained back in 2001 to the Howard Government and in particular the then Finance Minister Joe Hockey?  Property Spruikers prey on the most vulnerable.  Rent to Buy is nothing new - old scams leading more vulnerable people into the waiting arms of bankers and high cost risky Liar Loans.  Nothing changes.  Banks need more cannon fodder to assist their developer clients of the bankers with distressed properties.  We know how the game is played and so does...