Briefs: Alexiou ends ANZ legal action, Optus to refund $2.4 million in mobile phone insurance, Moula
Former ANZ trader Etienne Alexiou has withdrawn his legal action against the bank. He and ANZ's former head of fixed income sales, Patrick O'Connor, had sought A$40 million compensation between them after being sacked in 2015 for a variety of serious breaches of ANZ's Code of Conduct. O'Connor withdrew his legal action in January 2016. In a statement, ANZ said no money was paid to Alexiou, and confirmed all legal action over these dismissals had been withdrawn. In accordance with Fair Work Act proceedings, each party will meet their own legal costs. Optus Insurance Services will refund around A$2.4 million to 175,000 customers after failing to comply with financial services laws. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said in a statement that Optus had failed to provide customers with product disclosure statements and financial services guides when it sold them mobile phone insurance. Customers did not receive one month of free insurance as promised in a promotional offer and some were sold the wrong cover. The breaches occurred over a number of years and the company has agreed to contact another 500,000 customers who may be affected. Online small business lender Moula has signed a referral deal with multi-currency payment processor Pin Payments. The companies will share online data, giving Pin Payments customers easy access to Moula's lending platform. Moula is promising approvals within 24 hours. Pin Payments allows businesses to accept payments from local and international customers without the requirement for a merchant account. Lisa Claes, executive director customer delivery at ING Direct, will take over as managing director of property research house CoreLogic Australia New Zealand. She replaces Graham Mirabito who has been promoted as CEO International for US-based CoreLogic. Claes will begin working with CoreLogic in October.