Latest news with #ActiveSuper
Bloomberg
18-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Chalmers Hits Back at US Over Tariffs
Morning folks, Rich Henderson from Bloomberg's Melbourne bureau here with the latest headlines... Today's must-reads: • Treasurer chides US over tariffs • NAB fights for market share in business lending • Active Super fined A$10.5 million for greenwashing Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers hit back at the country's treatment by the US over tariffs on steel and aluminum. 'We deserve better as a long-term partner and ally,' Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday. 'These sorts of tariffs are self-defeating, they're self-sabotaging, they're a recipe for less growth and higher inflation.' Meanwhile, Former US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich says President Trump's leadership style presents a challenge to America's traditional allies. Trump takes "everything to an ultimate" as part of his negotiating strategy, says Bleich in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Haidi Stroud-Watts and Paul Allen, which can be "unsettling" for other governments. Canada has selected an Australian-developed radar system to detect incoming missiles as part of a push to beef up its military presence in the Artic. The move comes after heightened friction between Canada and the US that has raised questions about the future of a defense partnership between the bordering countries that stretches back to the 1950s. National Australia Bank is facing its biggest threat in years as Commonwealth Bank and Westpac push into small business lending, traditionally its strong suit. NAB CEO Andrew Irvine forecast heightened competition as 'there is more growth to be had,' than other banking sectors, he said at the Australian Financial Review Banking Summit.
Reuters
18-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Australia's Active Super hit with $6.7 million penalty for false environmental claims
March 18 (Reuters) - Australia's Federal Court has directed superannuation fund Active Super to pay a penalty of A$10.5 million ($6.70 million) for making misleading claims about its environmental credentials, the securities regulator said on Tuesday. Last June, the Federal Court found Active Super guilty of making misleading claims concerning its environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. In 2023, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filed a lawsuit against Active Super, challenging the fund's claims that it had divested from gambling, coal mining, oil tar sands, and Russian investments. Active Super still held direct and indirect stakes in companies such as SkyCity Entertainment Group ( opens new tab, Russian firm Gazprom ( opens new tab, Shell Plc (SHEL.L), opens new tab and Whitehaven Coal ( opens new tab, despite claims that it had rid itself of investments deemed harmful to the environment, ASIC said on Tuesday. "LGSS benefited from its misleading conduct by misrepresenting the "ethical" nature of a significant part of its investments, which on any view enhanced its ability to attract investors to the Active Super fund," Justice O'Callaghan said referring to a trustee of Active Super. Investment advisory firm LGSS said in an emailed response to Reuters that it was reviewing the penalty judgement and considering its options. ($1 = 1.5669 Australian dollars)
Bloomberg
18-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australian Pension Fund Fined A$10.5 Million for Greenwashing
Australian pension fund Active Super has been fined A$10.5 million ($6.7 million) for making a number of misrepresentations about its environmental, social and governance credentials amid a regulator push to stamp out greenwashing. In June, the Federal Court found regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission was largely successful in proving its case that the trustee of Active Super, known as LGSS, made a number of misrepresentations about its environmental, social and governance credentials. Those included labeling its coal and gambling investment screens as misleading and deceptive, according to the judgment.
