THE NEWS WRAP: Huawei responds to US spying allegations

Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei has said condemns any attempts to spy on its business by US intelligence agencies.

The comments come after The New York Times reported it had obtained leaked documents from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden showing the US National Security Agency had obtained sensitive data from the company.

“If the actions in the report are true, Huawei condemns such activities that invaded and infiltrated into our internal corporate network and monitored our communications,” Huawei’s global cyber security officer John Suffolk said.

“Corporate networks are under constant probe and attack from different sources – such is the status quo in today’s digital age.”

Consumer groups condemn financial advice reforms

A number of consumer groups have issued a joint statement urging federal politicians to not support a rollback of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms, which were introduced under the Rudd/Gillard governments.

Citing excessive red tape, the Abbott government is looking to rollback the changes, which were introduced following the collapse of Storm Financial.

Consumer groups opposing the move include Choice, the Consumer Action Law Centre, the Superannuation Consumers Centre, COTA for older Australians, the Consumer Credit Legal Centre, Consumers’ Federation of Australia, Financial Counselling Australia and the Footscray Community Legal Centre.

“As representatives of the Australian consumer movement, we strongly support the objectives of FoFA, namely to improve the quality of financial advice, build trust and confidence in the financial planning industry and facilitate access through the provision of simple or limited advice,” the groups say in a joint statement.

“The case for reform is highlighted in the catastrophic effects of major financial advice scandals, and detailed in numerous studies where poor advice is attributed to the presence of commissions and the failure of an adviser to act in their client’s best interests.”

No ‘halo-effect’ from sporting codes selling content online

Australian Rugby League commissioner Graeme Samuel says Australia’s major sporting codes will miss out on revenues from the ‘halo effect’ of television networks cross-promoting content if they directly stream matches online to subscribers.

“If they were to try to emulate what the free-to-air networks or Fox Sports are doing, I don’t believe the business case will stack up, because they can’t monetise the amount that equates to what they get, which has ‘halo effect’ premium built in.

“With the free-to-air networks and Foxtel, they can’t fully monetise through advertising or subscription revenue,” Mr Samuel said. “What they have is a ‘halo effect’ which has an impact on the overall profile of the network or the subscription television service.

“If you’re a sporting body producing your own content and then going to sell that content, you can’t get that ‘halo effect’, because you’re looking at it as a pure profit-loss equation.”

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down to 16302.8. The Aussie dollar is up to US90.98 cents.