BFCSA Blog

Why the banks should be nervous about Election 2016  The Drum Ian Verrender  5 hrs ago       A good thing that's all sorted. With the election campaign now in full swing, it seems almost everyone has forgotten the reason we are going to the polls. During the past fortnight, as political opponents play Punch and Judy each night on the tele, there's been nary a mention of the ABCC - the Australian Building and Construction Commission - the immediate establishment of which was so vital, it required the Prime Minister to dissolve both houses of Parliament. It's easy to see why. Cranes jostle for position on crowded city skylines as the frenzied east coast construction boom races towards its inevitable climax. Industrial disputes have fallen to levels last seen six years ago at the height of the financial crisis. And wages are growing at their slowest since records were established...

  Former Stingers and Underbelly actor Peter Phelps says his financial future is in ruins after claiming to have fallen victim to disgraced Queensland investment adviser Brad Sherwin. The Australian actor, who currently appears in the Network Ten series Wonderland, has claimed his 35 years' worth of superannuation - more than $400,000 - was "stolen" by former financial adviser Brad Sherwin, who chaired the now-defunct Wickham Securities. "Superannuation stolen by bankrupt 'financial adviser' Brad Sherwin," Phelps wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. "Was property investing super ... [and] the **** frauds us. "Kids future. Farm. Gone." More than 300 self-funded retirees lost up to $27 million after investing with Mr Sherwin's company Wickham Securities - a mortgage finance lender providing funds for borrowers buying or refinancing commercial property. Mr Sherwin ran Brisbane-based Wickham Securities with his brother-in-law Peter Siemons.   Wickham collapsed in December 2012, owing millions to investors. Related entities, including DIY Superannuation Service and Sherwin Financial Planners, went bust a month later, owing...

Hockey to fight tax dodgers and organised criminals with new taskforce ABC News James Glenday5 hrs ago  "This type of crime (white collar crimes) poses a genuine threat to national security," Treasurer Joe Hockey said. The Abbott Government is setting up a new financial crime taskforce to tackle tax dodgers, fraudsters and organised criminals. The Serious Financial Crime Taskforce will build on the Project Wickenby tax avoidance investigation, which ends this year. But it will also have a broader goal of fighting other serious white collar crimes, like superannuation and investment fraud, and identity offences. "This type of crime poses a genuine threat to national security and to the integrity of Australia's economy, financial markets, regulatory frameworks and tax revenue collection", Treasurer Joe Hockey said in a statement. The taskforce will get $127.6 million over four years for investigations and prosecutions. Agencies like the Australian Tax Office (ATO), Australian Federal Police,...

Bank of America has agrees to a record $18 Billion deal to settle claims it sold risky mortgage securities as safe investments ahead of the 2008 financial crisis. The bank said it would pay out US$9.65 billion (A$10.37 million) in cash and provide US$7 billion (A$7.5 billion) in relief to consumers affected by losses tied to those securities. The settlement, with the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other authorities including individual states, resolves a number of civil investigations against the bank and subsidiaries Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch, which it took over during the crisis. But it does not resolve potential criminal cases, especially involving Countrywide, once the country's largest home-loan issuer, and Countrywide officials. "We believe this settlement, which resolves significant remaining mortgage-related exposures, is in the best interests of our shareholders, and allows us to continue to focus on the future," the bank's chief...