Regulation

The federal government has introduced draft insolvency reforms designed to offer more protection for company directors and make it easier to restructure faltering businesses.

Quintis temporarily put the brakes on its falling share price by entering into a trading halt this morning, as it compiled a lengthy response to queries raised by the ASX.

Two days after Harvey Norman rejected a claim that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was reviewing its accounts, the retail giant has said the corporate watchdog is undertaking a “routine review”.

A former Australian Workers Union official has appeared in a Perth court over the alleged misappropriation of more than $400,000.

A major shareholder in failed manganese company Mesa Minerals has lost its bid to have administrators replaced after the Supreme Court ruled there was no evidence of bias between Pitcher Partners and Mesa’s largest stakeholder, Mineral Resources.

The head of the consumer watchdog says some large companies are deliberately trying to deceive customers and that the effects are widespread.

The competition watchdog has rejected a proposal by insurers to cap commissions paid to car dealers selling their add-on policies.

Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer says his bank is putting customers first by backing open data and denies it did the opposite by suggesting they join its poorly performing superannuation fund.

The Takeovers Panel has declined to look into construction giant CIMIC Group's claim that takeover target Macmahon Holdings' target statement was misleading and deceptive.

The corporate regulator has asked the Federal Court to appoint representatives of KPMG as liquidators of several subsidiaries of Pilbara-based property developer Macro Group.

The competition watchdog has raised concerns over South32’s proposed $US200 million acquisition of Peabody Energy Corporation’s Metropolitan Colliery in NSW, on the grounds that it may lessen competition in the region.

Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has admitted she didn't carefully fill in annual returns disclosing gifts and travel contributions, including BHP Billiton paying for her luxury accommodation and business class flights to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Australian Shareholders’ Association has called for companies to do a better job of communicating with their shareholders, following the resignation of a Seven West Media director on the eve of today's report on misconduct allegations against chief executive Tim Worner.

The collapse of yet another Western Australian residential builder appears set to further upset the delicate state of the sector, with financiers, insurers, 350 trade creditors and as many as 130 home owners facing losses.

A Perth recycling company has been handed an $80,000 fine for its part in a workplace accident in which a teenager's fingers were amputated by a tyre shredder.

The Building Commission's Building Services Board has imposed conditions on two Diploma Group subsidiaries, limiting their ability to carry out work, after the parent company fell into the hands of administrators just before Christmas.

An Osborne Park-based building company and its nominated supervisor have been fined a combined $45,000 for negligent work that led to the roof of one house blowing off and another being badly damaged during a storm.

A former law firm manager has been jailed for six and a half years after siphoning $2.1 million from trust accounts to fund her gambling habit.

A now de-registered Perth-based builder has been fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $3,200 in costs after he was found to have engaged in deceptive conduct.

Padbury Mining has again attracted regulatory attention, with the company acknowledging it should have notified the ASX when it negotiated potential capital raisings worth $106 million with a Hong Kong-based investor last year.

Primary Health Care boss Peter Gregg will face charges of falsifying accounts during his time as an executive at construction firm Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC Group).

The environmental group trying to stop work on the state government’s Roe 8 project has been refused an interim injunction on construction by the Federal Court, but has vowed to keep fighting.

The competition watchdog said today it planned to deny authorisation to a proposed partnership between Virgin Australia Holdings and Alliance Aviation Services because it would lessen competition in the West Australian market.

The 12-year old scandal over the Australian Wheat Board’s payments to the government of Iraq has moved closer to final resolution, with its former chairman Trevor Flugge convicted today of breaching his duties as a director but cleared of more serious charges concerning his knowledge of the payments.

The Federal Court has approved multi-million dollar fines slapped on ANZ Banking Group and Macquarie Bank for attempted fixing of the benchmark rate for the Malaysian ringgit, reaching the decision only "with some hesitation".

A former Get Approved Finance broker has had his appeal denied after a tribunal backed an earlier decision to permanently ban him from the industry.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has permanently banned a former Perth-based finance broker after finding he had engaged in misleading conduct.

Senior executives have created a poor compliance culture at the four major banks and should be named and shamed over mistreatment of customers, a parliamentary inquiry has found.

Interior design firm Habitat1 has secured a Supreme Court injunction against its founder, Christian Formby, after he sought to transfer its domain name to a new company and set up a business called Habitat Interiors.

The auditor general says former transport minister Dean Nalder’s decision to withhold information from parliament about his proposed Max Light Rail project was unreasonable, as the details were already in the public domain.

A 39-year-old man killed when he was crushed on an oil rig support vessel in waters off the Pilbara coast last year was standing in a dangerous spot in treacherous weather, the transport safety watchdog has found.

The Environmental Protection Authority has recommended approval of Fortescue Metals Group’s proposed extension plans at its Solomon iron ore operations near Tom Price, subject to a number of strict conditions.