Topic:
Identifying and complying with fiduciary duties in the financial sector
Speakers:
Hon Justice Ashley Black, Supreme Court of NSW; Associate Professor Scott Donald, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW Law & Justice; Professor Simone Degeling, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW Law & Justice; Professor Dimity Kingsford Smith, UNSW; Sarah Yu, Partner, King Wood Mallesons; Joanna Bird, Regulatory Consultant; Sarah Hill, 4 Selborne Chambers (Chair)
Venue:
Recorded at the NSW State Library during September 2024
Session one:
Keynote address
Hon Justice Ashley Black, Supreme Court of NSW
Fiduciary duties in the financial sector
Session two:
Variations on a theme, or a melodic scale?
Customer-regarding duties in the Australian financial services sector
Associate Professor Scott Donald, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW
Law & Justice
Parliament has repeatedly sought over the past three decades to give statutory protection to customers of the financial services industry using terminology or concepts that have echoes in equitable doctrine. This paper considers the superannuation, financial advice, investment funds, consumer credit and life insurance regimes in particular. It argues that they can be arrayed across a spectrum spanning from caveat emptor at one extreme to something beyond fiduciary obligation at the other. The paper further argues that each regime’s place on the spectrum represents a normative judgment that has emerged from intense contestation in the reform process about the extent of personal responsibility that customers ought to take in different circumstances. Finally, the paper identifies the complexity arising in more recent times from regulatory initiatives (including licensing and FAR) that create additional, but not wholly harmonious, layers of obligation for market participants.
Session three:
Financial sector and fiduciaries panel discussion focussing on:
• Compliance
• Enforcement
• Remediation
Professor Simone Degeling, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW Law & Justice (Panel Chair) Professor Dimity Kingsford Smith, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW Law & Justice Sarah Yu, Partner, King & Wood Mallesons Joanna Bird, Regulatory Consultant and Adjunct Professor, School of Private and Commercial Law, UNSW Law & Justice