29 March 2024
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5 things you need to know today

Switzer Daily
25 September 2020
  1. Responsible lending laws introduced by the Rudd Government in 2009 as a result of factors that led to the GFC, are to be axed. Rather than the financial institution taking on the responsibility and be subject to ASIC’s scrutiny, the shift will be to the borrower providing accurate information to a lender. The reason for this change is to reduce the squeeze on credit that these tough rules created. See Peter Switzer’s article.
  2. The Federal Government’s fortnightly Coronavirus supplement is being cut from $550 to $250 as of today, with other changes to JobSeeker also in train. The JobKeeper rate will drop from Monday September 28. The full-time rate will fall from $1,500 a fortnight to $1,200. The part-time rate will be $750 per fortnight for workers on less than 20 hours a week before the pandemic began. More cuts to JobKeeper will come into effect from the beginning of 2021 before it’s due to end in March.
  3. In reaction to its ‘wake up’ fine of $1.3 billion due to excessive breaches of anti-money laundering legislation, Westpac has appointed Les Vance to lead its 200 new financial crime staff to tidy up the banks’ act and ensure that major mistakes like this do no reoccur. Nicole Rose told the Fin Review that the financial intelligence regulator AUSTRAC, which she leads, is targeting another major non-bank institution for similar breaches.  Ms Rose told the Fin that reporting on anti-money laundering needs to be “more than a tick and flick report to the board”.
  4. In a landmark judgment, a Federal Court judge has held that Qantas has been ripping off its workers by keeping part of their JobKeeper wage subsidy! Potentially the airline will have to backpay hundreds of its workers employed during COVID. This decision could potentially affect other companies receiving JobKeeper and paying staff in arrears.
  5. On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones closed 0.20% higher to 26,815.44 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.30% to 3,246.59 and the Nasdaq moved up 0.37% to 10,672.27.
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