Mergermarket’s 9M26 rankings are out. Mallesons advised on $100bn of deals in the league tables, almost half the Australasian market. It’s Mallies’ second win in a row after topping the 1H26 tables too. HSF Kramer came second on volume ($88bn) but topped deal count with 87. Elsewhere, MinterEllison’s deal count halved and Clayton Utz slid to 16th on volume: Point Blank

⚖️ Regulatory: ASIC’s 2025–26 annual report shows a regulator in no mood to ease off. It secured $830m in civil penalties and helped return more than $580m to consumers and investors, while opening 260 formal investigations. Highlights include $250m in combined penalties against ANZ, a record $300.2m penalty against CFD provider Union Standard International Group, and 15 Federal Court proceedings over the Shield and First Guardian collapses. Chair Sarah Court says there’s more to come. ASIC is targeting cyber security failures, frontier AI risk and private credit: ASIC

⚖️ Planning: NSW wants to hit illegal tree-clearers where it hurts. A Bill introduced this week would expose unauthorised vegetation clearing in non-rural areas to civil penalties, enforced by councils or the Planning Secretary in the Land and Environment Court. Maximum penalties are $500k for individuals and $2.5m for corporations, and contraventions only need to be proved on the balance of probabilities. The big shift is that directors and managers who authorise or knowingly permit clearing could be personally liable, a first for the EP&A Act. There’s a silver lining: penalties can be negotiated with the regulator and don’t result in a criminal conviction: Mallesons

⚖️ Capital Markets: The new AIM Rules have made a London dual listing far more attractive for ASX-listed companies. The revamped Express Market route lets companies with three years on the ASX and a £20m market cap list via a short-form announcement, with no working capital statement, mandatory lock-ins or CPR for resources companies. A new Dual Market Admission route allows simultaneous ASX and AIM listings off a single listing document, provided at least £6m is raised. AIM has also introduced Capital Access Windows, effectively ASX-style trading halts, and narrowed its reverse takeover rules: Bird & Bird

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First phones, now specs. Victorian Education Minister Gabrielle Williams is banning smart glasses in every Victorian school from 2027, Catholic and independent included. In public schools, the ban also covers teachers, parents and volunteers, who’ll need to switch off their own smart glasses during school hours: TDA

AI hasn’t taken over just yet, and it turns out human judgement is still worth a lot. Anthropic is hiring an executive communications writer on US$295k to US$345k a year, despite Claude drafting speeches in seconds. The role needs 8+ years’ experience. By comparison, Amazon Web Services is offering a similar role for up to US$171k: Business Insider

🚢 Australia’s IFM Investors has snapped up a 64% stake in Associated British Ports, valuing the UK’s largest port operator at around £10bn (A$19bn) in one of Britain’s biggest deals of the year. The super fund-owned infrastructure giant beat out Apollo and KKR: Bloomberg

⛏️ Genesis Minerals is gearing up to offload about $1bn of assets once its $5.6bn scrip merger with Vault Minerals clears a court and shareholder vote next month. Vault’s Sugar Zone in Canada plus Deflector and Mount Monger in WA are up for grabs: The Australian

Fortescue has sacked a senior executive after a MinterEllison investigation found sexual harassment and bullying claims breached company policies. The exec was allowed to keep working before being suspended on full pay in August. It’s unclear whether a payout is coming: AFR

NAB’s 2,500 Australian job axe comes after it hired more than 7,000 staff in India and Vietnam since 2022. Many of the axed roles match work now done offshore. The Financial Services Union warns the shift puts customer data at risk, while Morgan Stanley reckons savings could hit $450m: AFR

Mirvac has sold a B-grade office tower at 410 Ann Street and the neighbouring Cathedral Square car park to Alceon for $124m. It’s a rare Brisbane office deal, with several syndicators walking away after due diligence as interest rates climb: The Australian

Shares in ASX-listed NextDC plunged 42%, wiping $2bn off its value, after residents blockaded crews installing power lines to its Melbourne data centre. The company has cut earnings guidance by a third, paused land acquisitions and is weighing whether force majeure clauses offer relief under its customer contract: Bloomberg