Australia's corporate regulator said on Friday it had launched a formal investigation into three KPMG Australia partners linked to whistleblower allegations the accounting firm misused confidential client data to win lucrative audit contracts, Reuters reported. The probe comes as some blue-chip clients and government agencies say they are re-examining their association with the Big Four accounting firm, three years after rival PwC Australia was rocked by a scandal that involved sharing confidential government information with prospective clients.
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Australian economic growth slowed in the first quarter of the year, when the central bank started raising interest rates and the Middle East conflict sent fuel prices surging, the Wall Street Journal reported. The economy expanded 0.3% in the three months through March, down from 0.9% in the December quarter. Annual growth slowed to 2.5%, from 2.6% in the prior quarter. The slowdown came as the Reserve Bank of Australia began raising interest rates in an attempt to cool inflation that was running above its 2%-3% target even before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.
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National data released by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) has found personal insolvencies increased in every state and territory compared to the same time last year, the Accounting Times reported. In the 2026 March quarter, 1,749 cases were bankruptcies, 1,356 were debt agreements, 50 were personal insolvency agreements, and six were insolvent decreased estates.
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Australia's net trade proved to be a major drag on the economy in the first quarter as imports of data centre equipment boomed and the value of fuel shipments surged due to the Iran war, while government spending added nothing to economic growth, Reuters reported. Inventories were expected to add 0.2 percentage points to growth, offsetting some of the drag from trade.
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Insurance Australia Group Ltd. said it has agreed to a settlement of proceedings brought by Greensill Bank AG and its insolvency administrators, Bloomberg reported. IAG said that the settlement won’t have a material impact on its financial position, according to a statement on Friday. Terms of the settlement are confidential, it said. The Greensill Bank proceedings are a subset of the litigation against Insurance Australia and other parties in the Federal Court of Australia. They relate to policies issued by BCC Trade Credit Pty on behalf of Insurance Australia to Greensill entities.
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The Australian government said on Thursday that it was suing 3M for more than $1.4 billion in damages, alleging that the American industrial conglomerate had concealed information about the harmful effects of “forever chemicals” used at more than two dozen military sites across the country, the New York Times reported. The lawsuit is the largest ever brought by the Australian government, Michelle Rowland, the country’s attorney general, told reporters in Canberra, the capital.
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