Weekly Update: 3rd May

Highlights this week:

• Announcement: The latest Targeting Scams report reveals a 13.1 per cent decline in reported scam losses to $2.74 billion in 2023. 
• Key data: Index of commodity prices fell by 1.5 per cent in April 2024 after falling 4.7 per cent in March. 
• The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council appointed by the Government handed down its State of the Housing System report for 2024.

Quote of the week:
“Mark Zuckerberg appears to be more determined to take journalists off Facebook than criminal content off Facebook. And that priority has got to change. They’ve got to put much more effort into targeting the scammers that are making millions and millions of dollars through the social media networks.”

– Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones

---

Parliamentary Update:

• Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones authored an opinion piece in the Canberra Times on scams: “If you have a phone or an internet connection, then you’ve almost certainly had a scammer try to take your hard‑earned money… Scams are rife. Older Australians are a target.”  
• The Attorney-General delivered a speech at the Privacy By Design Awards 2024 and announced that: “At the request of the Prime Minister I will now be bringing forward legislation in August to overhaul the Privacy Act and protect Australians from doxxing – the malicious use of their personal and private information. We will also seek to strengthen laws against hate speech. 
• The Prime Minister convened National Cabinet which agreed priorities to address gender-based violence, as well as announcing additional federal funding to permanently establish the Leaving Violence Program.  
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that changes will be made to the foreign investment framework, including “work to ensure the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act is robust and capable of responding to risks”.  
• Small business Minister Julie Collins and Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh announced that consumer and small business advocates can now apply to become a designated complainant – allowing them to submit complaints to the competition and consumer watchdog for response within 90 days. 
• Small Business Minister Julie Collins and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher announced the Australian Government’s response to the independent review of the impact of the implementation of the 1 July 2022 changes to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules on small and medium enterprises.  
• The Joint Corporations and Financial Services Committee held public oversight hearings for ASIC in Sydney.  
• Next week: Victorian Budget, 7 May 

---

Policy Update:

The ABA:  

• met with the RBA to discuss potential issues in the RBA’s upcoming Retail Payments Review. 
• attended an industry networking event hosted by the Emerging Payments Association Asia. 
• attended a NSW Government roundtable on reform to Strata Debt Recovery and Bankruptcies 
• met with Attorney General Department to discuss the timeline for AML/CTF Reform beyond the current second round of consultation 
• met with Treasury to discuss a range of matters, including the recent report from the Business Dynamism inquiry.  
• met with ISDA in respect to APRAs FRTB benchmarking exercise.  
• met with Sympli to progress resolution of issues on the IOp program.  
• attended the RegTechGlobal Series at Deloitte. 
  
  Submissions: APRA Prudential framework minor updates (3-May) 

---

Regulatory Update:

• RBA – Report Highlights Benefits and Challenges of Interlinking Fast Payment Systems for Cross-border Payments. Read more 
• ACCC – Scam losses decline, but more work to do as Australians lose $2.7 billion. Read more 
• APRA releases Monthly Authorised Deposit-taking Institution Statistics for March 2024. Read more 
• ASIC – ASIC releases summary document for identifying and supporting First Nations consumers experiencing financial abuse. Read more 
• ASIC – Scam alert: Scammers are changing the way they impersonate financial services businesses in sophisticated bond and term deposit scams. Read more/ 

---

Economic Update:

• Index of commodity prices fell by 1.5 per cent in April 2024 after falling 4.7 per cent in March. The index remains just over 80 from a 2022/23 baseline of 100. Non-rural commodities decreased in the month of April, while rural and base metals increased. 
• Retail trade in March 2024 fell 0.4% from previous month and increased only 0.8% from March 2023. 

---

Communications and Media:

• The ABA issued a media release, and Anna Bligh did TV and radio, welcoming the 2023 Targeting Scams report, which saw a 13 per cent in financial losses across the year.  
• Anna also spoke to 2GB’s Chris O’Keefe about surcharging and the future of cash. A transcript of the interview can be found here. 

---

Coming up next week:

Regulators:  

• 06/05 RBA board meeting  
• 07/5 RBA Monetary Policy Decision Statement & Media conference 

Data announcements:  

• 06/5 Westpac results 
• 07/5 ANZ results 
• 09/5 CBA quarterly results 

---

Upcoming Submissions:

Published submissions

---

Selected Media:

• Yahoo News – Progress on scams but social media urged to do more 
• ABC – When will interest rates fall? Not until November say big banks, as ‘incredibly strong’ migration makes the RBA’s task ‘more difficult’ 
• SMH – When interest rates eventually fall, banks will face a critical decision 
• AFR – Loosen rules so banks can write more home loans: Liberal MP  

Weekly Update