Regulator July 2011

Welcome to the July issue of Regulator.

This is my first issue after recently taking on the stewardship of Mallesons' Market Regulation Team. This team is focused on anticipating and covering developments in Australia, Asia and further afield that impact on our clients in the region. We remain committed to bringing our clients across the financial services sector and corporate Australia new insights about those regulatory changes that may have a direct or indirect affect on their business.

If you own a TV or radio, and turned either on in the last week, it would have been impossible for you to escape the debate about the Government's new carbon tax. The new tax, as with so many other reforms in the last 18 months, including to name a few the Personal Property Securities Act, price signalling and executive remuneration, has far reaching implications across the market. One week on and analysis of the new carbon regime continues. In this issue, Scott Farrell offers a brief overview of the impact for the financial services sector, where everything old seems to be new again.

In contrast, the approach to central clearing of OTC derivatives in Australia has moved on significantly in the last 18 months, with the Australian Council of Financial Regulators proposing that financial institutions acting in the domestic market be required to centrally clear Australian dollar denominated interest rate derivatives through a local central clearing party. Heidi Machin and Scott Farrell consider the rationale put forward by the Council in their recent consultation paper, which is open for comment until 5 August 2011.

There has been significant attention on the treatment of customers by the banks in the last 12 months, and Kate Jackson-Maynes looks at the new legislation that places restrictions on credit card limit increases and transactions on credit cards over the credit limit that was part of the Government's election commitment to crack down unfair treatment of consumers. Sharon Henrick continues to cover the developments in the Government's price signalling Bill, including recent amendments that address its unintended consequences.

Turning to developments outside Asia, Robert Hanley and Emma Malkin provide an update on the UK Bribery Act, which is potentially the most important piece of global anti-corruption legislation. Far-reaching, in terms of  both its scope and in extra-territorial reach, the new law should be well understood by businesses that have interests in, do business in the United Kingdom or have British nationals as employees. Mallesons will continue to follow the implementation of the new law and how it is employed, both in the UK and abroad.

As the commencement time for the Personal Property Securities regime draws ever closer, financiers and other affected businesses are generally well advanced with the preparation of their processes and systems. Martin James and Helena Busljeta provide a short update on the registration process and give details of how a test version of the PPS Register, and other technical details relevant to those developing their systems, may be accessed.

We hope you find the analysis in this issue both interesting and relevant, and as always, we welcome any feedback or suggestions that you may have for future editions.

Best wishes,

Diana Nicholson