Financial Services News

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has announced it is suing FIIG Securities over alleged cybersecurity failures. The regulator has announced that it has taken action in the Federal Court alleging that FIIG failed to have adequate cybersecurity measures for...

A leading cybersecurity researcher has signalled for Australian companies that engage in misleading claims regarding their own cybersecurity capabilities – a practice referred to as ‘cyberwashing’ – to face stiffer criminal penalties under a reinforced legal framework, with the practice...

The planned transition from the soon-to-be-decommissioned bulk payments processing system BECS lacks sufficient industry “coordination, planning and certainty”, a review by payments regulator the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has found, with the platform of choice for migration, the NPP,...

The Federal Government has approved plans to enable the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) to consider the actions of “receiving banks” in scam complaints. The new ministerial direction from Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones will empower...

Google has successfully enabled payments made via its mobile payment service, Google Wallet, to be routed through the domestic eftpos network, offering a least cost routing choice for contactless payments. ANZ and Suncorp Bank are the first two issuers to...

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has introduced a new customer authentication feature for its online banking portal NetBank designed to prevent unauthorised access to a customer’s accounts even if their password has been stolen. The feature, added as part...

Teachers Mutual Bank (TMB) has appointed Dan Chesterman, former tech chief of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), as chief information officer. Chesterman replaces Christopher Olter in the senior technology role. TMB confirmed Olter, who was appointed CIO in August 2023,...

The Supreme Court of NSW has imposed a $13.5 million fine on insurer Allianz Australia after it was found to have disseminated false or misleading information associated with a number of its travel insurance policies advertised online. Allianz Australia and...

The Federal Government has outlined its plans to extend the Consumer Data Right (CDR) scheme to non-bank lenders, including buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers, from mid-2026. Among the other mooted changes to the data sharing scheme include: A removal...

The Australian Banking Association (ABA) has released its updated ethics and conduct rule book for Australia’s banking sector, with new provisions that expand protections for small businesses, vulnerable customers and loan guarantors. The new Banking Code of Practice, approved by...

NAB-owned digital bank, Ubank, has completed a full rebuild of its mortgage broker platform, offering brokers a streamlined loan lodgement process and an improved user interface. The new platform boasts a range of new tools and bespoke processes for brokers,...

The Australian insurance industry’s peak lobby group has urged the Federal Government to address critical gaps in identified hazard data, allowing insurers and public agencies to more effectively track flood and other natural disaster risk across the country. In its...

An overwhelming majority of chief risk officers (CROs) from the global banking sector continue to rate cybersecurity risk as their foremost priority over the next year, well above all other measured risk factors, results from EY’s latest annual bank CRO...

Westpac names new Transformation Chief to head up Unite, the bank’s $3b tech consolidation program; Zip Co appoints former big four alum as CEO; and industry veteran Summerhayes to lead New Payments Platform (NPP) transition steering committee. Executive ◼️ Westpac...

The Federal Court has handed Australia’s biggest industry super fund a $27 million fine for its failure to inform members of duplicate accounts. Federal Court Justice Lisa Hespe labelled the compliance breach – prosecuted by regulator ASIC – as “serious...