BFCSA Blog

To Prime Minister Morrison   My Husband and myself invested our money into Sterling New Life for security and assurance and a 40 yr lease.  At the time of signing in October 2017, we signed up with them for an eazy-move contract which assured us that we could move into this house when our previous house was sold. We moved here on 31st January 2018 but in November last year my Husband was diagnosed with Cancer. He passed away in April this year and then on top of that, I got  the bombshell that SNL was going into liquidation.  I was totally shocked and appalled that at 78yrs of age, I was going to lose all my money and not only that, to have to exist on a single pension! Why is it that ASIC has sat back and done stuff all to help, not only me but all the other...

ASIC tallies Westpac’s responsible lending law breaches The Australian 12:00am May 7, 2019 Anthony Klan   Westpac broke responsible lending laws more than 260,000 times in just over three years, the corporate watchdog had told the Federal Court in Sydney this morning. Lawyers for the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said between December 2011 and March 2015, Westpac engaged in a “systematic approach” of ignoring the living expenses loan applicants had stated on application forms. Instead it relied on broad living expense “benchmarks”, which, if they were true, would in some cases have meant the loan applicant was already living on, or close to, the poverty line, ASIC told the court. ASIC said Westpac failed to properly verify the actual financial positions of borrowers a total of 261,987 times. In 154,351 of those cases, the bank also failed to use correct figures when assessing if borrowers taking out interest-only loans could...

ASIC responsible lending crimps credit: ANZ and NAB John Kehoe  27 March 2019    https://www.afr.com/news/economy/asic-responsible-lending-crimps-credit-anz-and-nab-20190327-p517xu    ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank are at loggerheads with corporate cop James Shipton, who has slammed bankers for spreading a "myth" that the regulator's responsible lending crackdown is exacerbating a credit squeeze.    ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliot said bankers reacting cautiously to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's more stringent application of lending standards meant some home buyers and businesses "will find it harder to borrow".  He also rebuffed ASIC chief prosecutor Dan Crennan's ambitions to lock bankers in jail, in response to questions from Liberal MP Tim Wilson about unintended consequences from a royal commission-inspired clampdown.   "People should pay the consequence of poor behaviour or misconduct or breaking the law," Mr Elliott said at a parliamentary hearing in Canberra.     "I would have thought the right outcome here is not how many people are in jail but do we have a fully functioning financial system that is responsible and generating good outcomes for our...

NAB axes controversial home loan referral program Sydney Morning Herald March 25, 2019 6.14pm Clancy Yeates   Real estate agents, lawyers and sports clubs will no longer be able to receive payments from National Australia Bank for helping sell home loans, in a move aimed at rebuilding trust after the bank's reputation took a battering at the royal commission. Acting chief executive Phil Chronican on Monday announced the axing of NAB's "introducer" scheme, to take effect from October, saying that scrapping the payments was "the right thing to do". Referral schemes, such as NAB's introducer program, are used by banks as a way of drumming up business. They involve paying a type of spotter's fee to people who refer customers to the bank if they end up taking out a loan. NAB made nearly $100 million in such payments between 2013 and 2016, offering commissions of 0.4 per cent of loans,...

The big banks' nice earners are melting away Australian Financial Review Mar 22, 2019 11.00pm Karen Maley   After months of crippling humiliation before the Hayne commission, the last thing the country's big four banks wanted was another portent of looming competition. But that's exactly what they got in September when the country's largest super fund, AustralianSuper, announced it was committing £230 million ($425 million) to finance a new office, hotel and residential unit development in London, known as One Crown Place. It was a logical next step for AustralianSuper, which had already lent some $1 billion to Australian companies, but almost always in tandem with one of the big four local banks. In contrast, there were no local banks in sight in the One Crown Place deal – which boosted AustralianSuper's international loan exposure to more than $2 billion. In that transaction, AustralianSuper found itself rubbing shoulders with major global banks. It was a...

CBA underpays 8000 staff after HR tech system failure Australian Financial Review Apr 17, 2019 12.01am James Eyers   Commonwealth Bank has underpaid about 8000 staff after its human resources technology systems failed to accurately calculate and process entitlements, forcing the bank to repay millions of dollars to current and former employees. The Finance Sector Union said it was notified by CBA about the issue, which the union is describing as a "blunder" relating to CBA's "antiquated computer systems".  CBA says it replaced the offending HR system last year and has apologised to affected staff. “This is a major stuff-up by the CBA and hard-working bank staff deserve an apology and a commitment from the CBA’s chair, Catherine Livingstone, and CEO Matt Comyn that this kind of pay bungle won’t happen again,” said FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano. Once compensation is repaid, including interest and additional superannuation payments, Ms Angrisano said...

You wouldn’t want to have your money tied up in Australian bank's   shonky hydrid bonds!    No wonder it’s back to re-financing and securitisation!    What Would it Cost a Country to Leave the Euro? That’s What Everyone Suddenly Wants to Know by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2017    http://wolfstreet.com/2017/02/07/what-would-it-cost-a-country-to-leave-the-euro-thats-what-everyone-suddenly-wants-to-know/   It’s the closest the Eurozone has come to falling apart. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, will get enough votes in April during the first round of the French presidential election but will be defeated in the second-round runoff in May, according to the polls. So at least hopes the French political class, and by extension the European establishment. They’re hoping Le Pen would be defeated because she is campaigning on taking France out of the euro (after holding a referendum) and re-denominating the entire €2.4 trillion pile of French government debt into new franc....

Sound familiar In Australia?  Doesn’t take much to know why our banks now all have internal customer advocates to control what suits them to investigate internally and what suits them to be investigated by the FOS!   Hope for bank fraud victims: 'We were robbed of £47,000 – but the ombudsman took our side' 3 September 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/hope-for-bank-fraud-victims-we-were-robbed-of-47000--but-the-omb/   In what could be a breakthrough ruling for victims of banking fraud, the financial ombudsman is to order a high street bank to repay an elderly couple who lost tens of thousands of pounds in a conveyancing scam. The ombudsman, which settles disputes between customers and financial services firms, will tell Lloyds Bank to repay £47,508 plus interest to Donald Kelly, a retired professor, and his wife, Patricia. Its decision was based on what Lloyds knew about the fraudsters. Banks are supposed to check the credentials of all customers when they open an...

Bad business decisions are not a criminal offence but selling stolen goods off the back of a truck is...i.e. the real crime is securitisation...   This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis   By Neil Irwin Wonkblog September 12, 2013   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/09/12/this-is-a-complete-list-of-wall-street-ceos-prosecuted-for-their-role-in-the-financial-crisis/   Five years after Lehman fell, taking the global economy along with it, a roll call of Wall Street CEOs serving time for their role in the crisis looks something like this: Thanks, Dangerz0ne.   So, yeah. Zero Wall Street CEOs are in jail. But we did promise you a list:   1. No one. 2. LOL. 3. Wall Street's lawyers are amazing. 4. Etc. Etc. It's not that federal government tried to prosecute a bunch of them but lost the cases. There were no serious efforts at criminal prosecutions at all. Which isn't to say nobody is in jail....

Does the S&P Settlement change EVERYTHING? 16 February 2015 https://peopleriskmanagement.com/2015/02/16/does-the-sp-settlement-change-everything/ The S& P saga rumbles on. Having been hammered by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January [1], S&P has received a knock-out blow, and a $1.375 billion fine, from the US Department of Justice and 20 State governments [2]. And in what might the first of many private actions, S&P also reached a separate $125 million settlement with the huge pension fund California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS) [3]. What has received little publicity, however, are the implications of the S&P settlement with regard to Corporate Governance, in general, and Codes of Conduct in particular. In justifying the huge fine, the Justice Department said that “as part of the resolution, S&P admitted facts demonstrating that it misrepresented itself to investors and the public, allowing the pursuit of profits to bias its ratings”. In the many fines against banks,...

  Dear Victim of Sterling First Ponzi Structure   Thank you for your correspondence 3 August 2019, originally directed to the Prime Minister concerning your investment in the Sterling First group of companies.  Your correspondence has been referred to the Minister for Housing and and Assistant Treasurer and he has asked me to respond to you.  I REGRET that I am unable to provide further assistance to that contained in my letter to you of 2nd August 2019. In relation to your query about the return of Investment Funds, I conform my previous advice to you about contacting liquidators in the first instance.   For advice on Tenancy matters, you may also wish to contact the Consumer Protection division of the Western Australian Government Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) continues to update Sterling First investors via a dedicated page on its website, www.asic.gov.au. ...

  } Hon Josh Frydenberg MP Treasurer House of Representatives Parliament House PO Box 6022 Canberra ACT 2600       Dear Mr. Frydenberg This is not the “Holocaust” but as far as Australia goes, it doesn`t come any worse! The corporate fraud, regulatory negligence` and victim suffering, is off the scale! By the sheer volume of correspondence, you are aware of the Sterling New Life “40-year Lease for Life Scam”, ASIC`s criminal neglect, and the immense suffering of their sick and elderly victims. So, as a concerned citizen, I`m here adding my voice to their call for compensation! I`m asking you, as Treasurer, to way in to this issue and not look for the coward`s way out as ASIC has! They have looked for, and used, every technicality to dodge their responsibility to protect the most vulnerable from corrupt and illegal practices! The scam run by SNL was an...

2nd September 2019   Leader of the Opposition   and Shadow Ministers:   Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP & Hon Bill Shorten MP Dear Mr Albanese,   I am writing to you in desperate need of your help for all the victims of the Sterling Group collapse with my mum being one of them.   She has become a victim of a crime, so called PONZI scheme and has lost $244,000 of her life savings and will potentially become homeless if this issue is not resolved quickly.  We are appealing to you in the hope that you can raise this matter in the Lower House ASAP, by way of a Matter of Public Importance and Senate Inquiry.   My mother is a 79 year old self-funded retiree who immigrated 15 years ago to join their children and call it their home for the rest of their life.  After the death of my father in...

Dr Jim Chalmers Shadow Treasurer PO Box 6022 House of Representatives, Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600     Dear Mr Chalmers   Many retirees have been aught up in a scam called the Sterling Newlife rent for life scheme of which my wife and I are one.  I refer you to a letter sent to Mr Albanese by Denise Brailey outlining the scam and the devastating affect it has had on retirees Dr Chalmers could you use your position in Parliament to refer the following questions to the treasure and assistant treasurer   Why is the Treasure stating the Sterling Affair is a state matter when clearly this is a Federal matter   Why is the Treasurer suggesting victims of Sterling write to the Ombudsman knowing full well that is a devious ASIC TRICK?  The same question relating to sending victims to AFCA that are controlled by the banks and hand...

23rd August 2019   Hon Jason Clare MP Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT2600       Dear Mr. Clare   Re: The collapse of the Sterling Life Group by inaction of ASIC.   This is our story of our unfortunate experience with the Sterling New LIfe Group.   In November 2016 after seeing Sterling New LIfe being heavily advertised in the newspaper and on radio by well known WA personalities we went to a meeting and got all the information. One of WAs best known personalities was there this gave us a bit of confidence as we did not think they would want their reputations tarnished by something that was a con. After doing a lot of homework on this and talking to others that had joined we signed up on the 26th July 2017. We took all our money...

I hope you managed to purchase a copy of this very important magazine article. A five page feature on MORTGAGE FRAUD.  Bank Rolled AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE Greg Bearup & Anthony Klan Saturday 30/6/2018 The most FAQ:  HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW and WHY HAYNE WAS PREVENTED FROM CALLING DENISE BRAILEY TO THE STAND?  Given my extensive background into the Mortgage Fraud complaints during the past 18 years people ask why I have not been called to the Royal Commission which started with my pleading to Tony Abbott to call a RC in 2013.  Instead we were given a "Hockey Roots and Branch Fiasco" run by the head of the CARTEL David Murray who ha zero integrity in taking that position. In March 2016, I wrote 8 page letter on why consumers are desperate for a Royal Commission. Unlike Abbott, Shorten responded immediately.  His 2IC called me on a Sunday night (2nd April) and...

YES FOLKS  Its illegal to expose the things that public servants and their puppet masters have been illegally engaging in.  If you are a public servant whistleblower and you try and expose your Mindless Masters for corruption and illegal activity, you will be the one hanged...................Should we bring back the STOCKS in Martin Place?  No not the ASX stocks..........................old fashioned naming and shaming in public square!...

If the Australian public's demands for a Royal Commission into the Australian banking sector are going to be ignored, the power to demand the truth will be felt at the coming election.   As the old saying goes, give them enough rope.... ...

Is this really what we want to see across Australia? Royal Commission into the Australian Banking sector, with broad terms of reference!  

We now have a resident cartoonist and will be sharing cartoons with you on a regular basis.  We all need a good LAF from time to time. "3 Wise Monkey" ...

Dear members For once the shoe is on the other foot, in the online magazine 'The Advisor" ( just google it) brokers and advisors are whinging and bleating poor me after being caught out by a former financial industry person turned scammer. When I first started reading the article I assumed it must of  been large sums of money but no it sums of a thousand dollars or less. These poor souls are calling on everyone from ASIC to the police to act to bring this known fraudster to account, they are victims of fraud and want the courts to act. Well, well welcome to our world and we aren't talking little piddling amounts of less than a thousand dollars, we're talking in excess of a million dollars in some cases. The irony of this story is a lot of these people are the very people we trusted and yet they...