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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned financial adviser Ezzat-Daniel Nesseim from providing financial services.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that it has issued prohibition orders (POs) against six individuals for the mis-selling of investment products. The individuals are:

Yesterday, US President Trump announced the long-telegraphed withdrawal of the USA from the Iran nuclear sanctions agreement, known as the Comprehensive Plan of Action. According to the US Treasury "The President confirmed that the US will begin the process of re-imposing all US sanctions previously waived under the JCPoA." That's going to cause huge complexity for businesses all over the world because no other government of any international importance is adopting the USA's position. Also, there's a gold-rush about to start.

Yesterday, the USA's President Trump announced that the US would leave the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action a.k.a. the Iran Nuclear Deal. Below is a list of resources.

On 19th April, Australia's newest national bank, Members' Equity Bank a.k.a. ME Bank, announced that it was to increase its interest rates on existing home loans, with effect from 19th April. Then it made a silly error. Given that the banking sector in Australia is under the most intense scrutiny and that it would be logical to assume that, if at any time, this is the time where banks will double, triple even quadruple check their actions, the stupidity of the error raises a serious question: is the financial sector in Australia simply under-skilled and, therefore, unfit for purpose?

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has, far too late, waded into the scandal over businesses that offer completely unnecessary, and very costly, services relating to the mis-selling of Personal Protection Insurance. The industry around selling what amounts to little more than form-filling assistance and which has collected in excess of GBP1,000 million, has force-fed advertising and is now ramping up the pressure on those who have not yet made a claim. The FCA has countered with its own advert. It's rubbish and in the wrong place.

We've been down this road before: Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has taken action against auditors of self-managed
superannuation fund (SMSF).

Coupled with the evidence before the Royal Commission one thing is clear: ASIC's mandate is fundamentally flawed and a new model must be created ASAP, not ASIC.

When Barnaby Joyce admits he was wrong, as he has done recently over his previous comments that a Royal Commission was appropriate to inquire into the management and practices of Australia's banks, it's obvious how things are going. It's starting to look as if the sector is going to get a huge shake-up - and the removal of many senior officers. One hopes they are replaced with competent bankers, not more recruits from consulting companies - or from the revolving door with government and quasi-government jobs.

The story of Warderly International Holdings Ltd is strange. Formed in 2002, it floated almost immediately. In 2007, shares were suspended when Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission raised questions about the management of the listed company and, as was learned much later, allegations of insider trading.

As if the crisis in retail isn't a sign that the global financial crisis, and the UK's part in it, isn't over, the news from manufacturing and other sectors of large-scale redundancies, non-renewal of contracts for term-staff and closures or restructuring of businesses in non-high street retail isn't enough, mailboxes are being spammed with one of the earliest signs of a financial crisis, threatening to ensure that recovery is a long way off. At the forefront is a spam promoting SAGA, the company that is supposedly the elderly's best friend.

It's amazing: the old 419 scam still works enough for people to persist in using it. From mail in envelopes via, in some cases, telex and then fax and onto e-mail, they just keep on coming. This one purports to come from someone working at Barclays Bank.

This morning, I received, in one of my corporate mailboxes, a spam which is disturbing on several levels, none of which are relevant to the core arguments in this piece so I've added the text in a footnote for readers' information.

What is relevant, and not disturbing, is that it demands payment to a specific bitcoin account.

This is it: 1JXuMq6sbL95XnrcDEsrZTCvvRjB52RCAD.

Governments and others are focussed on the person behind the account. There is another way, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

Hardly a day goes by without a report of bad conduct by one of Australia's banks. It's not as if there are many of them and the result is that each of them is in the news for all the wrong reasons on an increasingly frequent basis. This time it's ANZ with a classic of charging fees but providing no service.

Really. How is this different from someone knocking on the door of an elderly couple, telling them there's a hole in their roof and saying "I'll repair it for a price of X" but collecting the money and doing nothing?

If the domain name used to send a spam and the subject line are inconsistent, that's often a guide to the probability that a the spam is also a scam. If the subject matter of the content is unrelated to a domain name that indicates a connection to a specific subject, that is also an indicator. So digital@myrountrips.net writing about "Multiple revenue streams" and "The Most Profitable Digital Currency System in the World" ticks more than enough boxes. Then we are promised no-lose crypto-currency trading.

Hello, old friend.

It's been a while.