The director of the newly-rebranded bdhSterling has revealed that the advisory firm has seen a dramatic increase in the number of clients looking transfer their pension into a recognised overseas pension schemes (Rops).
Australian expats living in the US may have to pay taxes on their superannuation pension accounts, following changes to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) reporting requirements for such schemes.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has signed a cooperation agreement with the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) in a bid to boost financial services technology for both countries.
The Australian Government will introduce legislation this year to set up a new independent standards body to oversee the country’s 22,500 financial advisers, enforce uniform educational standards and police an official code of ethics.
A number of Australia’s major life insurers have endorsed the Financial Services Council’s Life Insurance Code of Practice, saying it should help to build consumer trust in the industry.
The STM Group has launched a Gibraltar-based Australian superannuation scheme targeted at the expat market as part of a broader move into Australia’s retirement market.
Australia’s government has confirmed it will allow life insurance brokers to pocket commissions as high as 60%, after resisting calls for them to be banned altogether.
The Australian corporate regulator has abandoned a civil penalty action against two former directors of the collapsed Queensland-based fund manager LM Investment Management (LMIM).
The Federal Court of Australia has approved the transfer of Macquarie Life’s risk insurance portfolio to Zurich Australia, a move that will see the Swiss firm become Australia’s fourth biggest retail insurer in the IFA segment.
One of Australia’s big four banks, Westpac Banking Corp, has announced plans to remove all product related incentives from frontline staff in its retail branches as part of efforts to rebuild trust with its customers.
The Australian government has scrapped plans to introduce a controversial A$500,000 (£286,598, $383,675, €341,174) lifetime cap curbing the amount people can save into their pensions.
Contentious proposals to cap lifetime superannuation fund contributions were not included in the first tranche of draft legislation released by the Australian treasury on Wednesday but remain under consultation.
