Financial Services News

Prudential regulator APRA has imposed additional licence conditions on industry super fund NGS Super (NGS) after “significant deficiencies” were identified in NGS’ cyber controls. Under APRA orders, NGS will be required to engage an independent third party to: assure NGS’...

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) will pilot a real-time intelligence-sharing arrangement with telco Vodafone to help halt SMS scams before they hit customers’ phones. The pilot will enable Vodaphone to identify and disrupt scammers, while CBA, from the other side, will...

Global financial systems regulator the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has released a new ‘toolkit’ to assist FSIs and local industry regulators to better manage third-party risk. The just-released toolkit was created, the FSB said, in response to concerns flagged by...

Big four bank alumnus Jake Bromwich has been announced as Beyond Bank’s next chief executive, replacing the mutual bank’s long-serving head Robert Keogh. Announcing his appointment on LinkedIn, Beyond said its new chief executive will be accountable “for leading… its...

Queensland-based Ivory Insurance has been granted a general insurance (GI) licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Ivory touts itself as a “new [and] innovative Australian-owned insurer”, boasting “capacity and expertise” for Australian underwriting agencies. Ivory chair Gregor Pfitzer...

Westpac has confirmed it has restored its mobile and online banking services this morning after a more than eight-hour unscheduled systems downtime overnight. The bank said it had restored services at around 5 am on Tuesday morning, with the crash...

Australia’s peak banking industry body has backed the Federal Government’s move to legislate a voluntary Digital ID scheme, welcoming the legally enforced identity verification system as “the nation’s first line of defence against cybercrime”. The Australian Banking Association (ABA) confirmed...

Treasury is seeking industry input into the formulation of a new mandatory industry code that would clarify the responsibilities of three priority industries – banks, digital platforms and telcos – in protecting consumers against scams. The new code would seek...

National Australia Bank (NAB) will shutter another five bank branches, including four in regional Australia and one in Sydney’s CBD, with the financial sector employees union declaring the move “out of step with” its fellow major banks. NAB notified the...

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced a number of updates, including the launch of a new rental payments solution and AgTech data-sharing collaboration, and new performance figures around its Reimagined Banking strategy. Among the new releases, CBA has...

AMP has promoted Kavita Mistry to serve as the group’s next chief technology officer (CTO), filling the vacancy left following the announcement last month of Felicia Trewin’s imminent departure. Mistry is currently head of technology for AMP’s wealth arm, alongside...

Australian Payments Plus (AP+) has unveiled its development roadmap for the banking sector’s ‘Confirmation of Payee’ system, announced late last week as part of a raft of new capabilities and rules to be established under the banking industry’s Scam Accord....

Officially merging in March this year, the Queensland-based Heritage Bank and South Australia-based People’s Choice have now unveiled their anticipated brand name as a unified organisation. Nine months after the mutuals’ official merger, the brand will now be known, collectively,...

Financial disputes resolution service, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), received more than 3,800 complaints from small businesses in the FY2022-23 financial year, an increase of nine per cent on the previous financial year. Unauthorised transactions, a category that includes...

Australia’s commercial and mutual banks, credit unions and building societies have committed to a new Scam-Safe Accord that outlines a set of actions and practical initiatives to protect their customers and harden their systems against scams. Banking sector peak bodies,...