In his recent Interim Report into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, Commissioner Hayne makes a lot of the duties of an Australian financial services licensee and an Australian credit licensee to provide financial services or credit activities, as the case may be, efficiently, honestly and fairly.

The People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance have recently released the highly anticipated preliminary Panda bond guidelines, which took effect immediately. According to the PBOC, the aggregate value of Panda bonds issued in China’s Interbank Bond Market from 2005 to August 2018 is RMB178.16 billion (approximately US$25.94 billion). The Guidelines have been released in a move to encourage more foreign issuers (i.e. sovereigns, international development institutions, financial institutions and non-financial enterprises established outside China) to participate in CIBM.

In this bulletin, we offer a practical guide for navigating cyber security risks in M&A transactions; examine the obstacles that data breach class actions face in Australia and lessons learned from high profile class actions overseas; explore the prevalence of data breaches in the healthcare sector; track the ongoing effects of Yahoo’s 2014 data breach; and consider the debate at home and abroad about whether ‘hacking back’ against cyber criminals is a viable (and legal) option.

In part two of our series on the Victorian environmental reforms, we explore the third-party enforcement rights introduced into the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) by the Environment Protection Amendment Act 2018 (Vic), which passed Victorian Parliament in August 2018. Enabling third parties to seek civil remedies for breaches of the new Act is one of the most significant reforms in the new regime, and will bring Victoria into line with other Australian jurisdictions. Partner Jillian Button, Senior Associate Emily Johnstone and Paralegal Simon Chiarelli provide an overview of the new regime and the implications for environmental risk management and community engagement for Victorian businesses and projects.

With the Consumer Data Right going live for the banking sector in July 2019, we take an in-depth look at the main issues and practical considerations arising from the Rules Framework (which contains new information about how the regime will function) and from the revised draft legislation giving effect to the CDR.

From 1 November 2019, gift cards sold in Australia must be valid for at least three years, under new legislation setting out a national framework for their regulation. This provides greater certainty for issuers of gift cards who might otherwise have to comply with different state and territory laws. Partner Jacqueline Downes and Associate Sarah Rodrigues report.

On 25 September 2018, the Foreign Investment Review Board released revised guidance on the application of the requirement for an open and transparent sale process for foreign persons acquiring agricultural land. Partner Wendy Rae, Senior Associate Julian Barendse and Lawyer Bianca Sacco examine these changes.

Draft legislation intended to address some of the continuing gaps in the proposed corporate collective investment vehicle framework has been released, with submissions on it closing soon. Partner Marc Kemp and Associate Mai Go report.

The WA Court of Appeal has taken an expansive view of the power that Australian courts have to grant interim orders in support of international arbitrations. Specifically, it has confirmed that their power to grant interim freezing orders is not limited to orders that extend only until the arbitral tribunal is constituted – meaning that such an order might continue to apply whether or not the arbitral tribunal agrees that it is appropriate. Partner Jeremy Quan-Sing and Lawyer Caitlin Moustaka report.

In part three of our series on the Victorian environmental reforms, we explore the new contaminated land regime introduced into the Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) by the recently passed Environment Protection Amendment Act 2018 (Vic). The duties to notify the EPA of and manage contamination, the statutory power to serve a remedial notice on the landowner, and the new audit framework represent major departures from the current environmental protection regime. Partner Jillian Button, Associate Isabella Kelly and Paralegal Simon Chiarelli provide an overview of these key changes and the practical implications for those who own or occupy contaminated land in Victoria.

On Thursday, 18 October, the Queensland Parliament passed the Mineral, Water and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, which will make important changes to the various Acts governing resource activities in that state. Partner Ben Zillmann and Senior Associate Giselle Kilvert consider the changes to mineral resources legislation.

Social insurance contributions from foreign employees working in Vietnam and their employers were required from 1 January 2018, but lack of guidance has meant a hold on the practice until now. The Government has finally issued a long-awaited decree that implements the compulsory social insurance scheme for foreign employees from 1 December 2018. Partner Linh Bui, Senior Associate Mai Loan Nguyen and Associate Hoa Phan report on the key changes.

The Victorian Government has released draft guidelines for the design, assessment and development of large-scale solar farms. Partner Jillian Button, Senior Associate Emily Johnstone, Associate Isabella Kelly and Lawyer Zainab Mahmood provide an overview of the guidelines’ key features.

Following the passing of the controversial Cybersecurity Law in June, the Ministry of Public Security recently released for public consultation a draft decree providing detailed guidance on this law. The draft contains a number of important clarifications of the localisation requirements applicable to foreign service providers. Partner Linh Bui and Associate Hien Nguyen report on the key issues that could affect businesses.

In this update we look at the the progress of rule changes across the month of October and examine opportunities for stakeholders to participate in the AEMC’s new review ‘Updating the regulatory framework for embedded networks’.

In his Interim Report, Commissioner Hayne rejected claims that misconduct in the financial services sector was the fault of ‘a few bad apples’ and did not raise ‘broader or systemic concerns’. Commissioner Hayne’s comments made me think about AFCA and what it can do (and must do) about ‘systemic issues’ identified in the course of handling complaints.

Very broadly speaking, current legislation relating to responsible lending says that a person must not recommend or make an ‘unsuitable’ loan to a consumer – an unsuitable loan being one that either does not meet the consumer’s requirements and objectives, or imposes repayment obligations that they are unable to meet without substantial hardship.

In response to a range of concerns from stakeholders, the Federal Government has decided to postpone controversial amendments to the inventive step requirements. Partner Linda Govenlock and Senior Associate Lauren John report on this significant development.

As companies and regulators across the world grapple with ever-increasing cyber security threats, Australia’s financial services regulator, APRA, has released the final form of a new prudential standard. It will require APRA-regulated entities to establish and maintain information security controls to protect customer data, and to notify APRA of information security incidents that have, or may have, a material effect on customers’ interests. This will have significant implications both for regulated entities and for their boards of directors. Partners Gavin Smith and Simun Soljo and Lawyer James Higgins report.

Class action risk continues to increase and is becoming more complex than ever before. Assessing this risk for your organisation is extraordinarily challenging and requires a broad-based perspective of the broader class actions landscape. To give that broader context, as well as practical guidance, our Class Actions team has prepared this guide to class action risk at the end of 2018.