In brief In August 2022 the Federal Court gave judgment in the unfair contract terms (“UCT”) case launched nearly two years ago by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) against Fujifilm Business Innovation (formerly Fuji-Xerox) (“Fujifilm”) The judgment declared many well understood equipment finance terms to be unfair and hence unenforceable. Because Fujifilm had… Read More
Summary In March the Federal Court decided that part of the security granted under a standard form supply contract was unfair and so void and unenforceable. The part of the security deemed void was a typical ‘all monies’ charging clause. This clause was found to be unfair because it was additional to other specific security… Read More
Summary Having a borrower provide standard form certificates of advice from its accountant and lawyer may not be enough to enable an asset-based loan (ABL) to get subsequent legal approval, Australia’s High Court has ruled. The court viewed an ABL as the practice of providing credit based primarily on an assessment of the assets acting… Read More
Executive summary The Principal & Agent Agreement (or ‘P&A product’) is a well known credit creation technique which has been used in Australian business finance for many years. It is in essence a ‘flow-through’ lending technique. Utilising the flexible nature of the law of agency, the P&A product enables the rights and obligations of the… Read More
The recent publicity surrounding allegedly fraudulent equipment leasing transactions substantially funded by one of Australia’s major banks has echoes of a similar scandal thirty years ago involving a leading State government owned bank. In the recent case, many of the same sharp financial practices present in the previous scandal may be observed. Despite the monumental… Read More