The Government is seeking submissions on a draft of the Asia Region Funds Passport (Passport) Bill and related explanatory material. The Passport is a common framework of coordinated regulatory oversight to facilitate cross border issuing of managed investment funds. Australia, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Thailand are signatories to the Passport’s Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), […]
ASIC has created a new section on its website to help financial advisers navigate the incoming professional standards requirements. The new requirements are aimed at lifting the education, training and ethical standards in the financial advice sector. ASIC’s website now provides an overview of the new requirements, as well as related information on: the scope […]
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) review of financial advice provided by the five biggest vertically integrated financial institutions has identified areas where improvements are needed to the management of conflicts of interest. The review looked at the products that ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac and AMP financial advice licensees were recommending and at the […]
The Government has today announced the key features of two reforms for consumers, to ensure Australians are treated fairly and ethically by financial product providers. The Design and Distribution Obligations and the Product Intervention Power will ensure that financial products are targeted and sold to the right consumers, and where products are inappropriately targeted or […]
The Government is seeking public comment on draft legislation for the Asia Region Funds Passport (Passport) and on the tax treatment of Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles (CCIVs). The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services stated the Passport will allow Australian funds managers to offer their products into Asia without having to go through duplicative approval […]
ASIC has today released a review of its regulatory sandbox, introduced in December 2016. In the review ASIC proposes to retain class waivers known as the fintech licensing exemption, that allow eligible financial technology (fintech) businesses to test certain specified services without holding an Australian financial services or credit licence. ASIC had committed to reviewing […]
The Government has released exposure draft regulations providing further detail on the extension of the crowd-sourced funding (CSF) framework to proprietary companies. This is the next step in enabling proprietary companies to access equity crowdfunding, and follows the legislation introduced to the Parliament on 14 September 2017. The draft regulations also make refinements to the existing CSF […]
A new dispute resolution body with legislation to establish the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has recently been passed in the Senate. AFCA will commence operation in the second half of 2018 and will replace the existing Financial Ombudsman Service, Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. The Bill was passed with a […]
ASIC has today reported on its approach to and assessment of licence applications and professional registrations for the period July 2016 to June 2017. Report 553 Overview of licensing and professional registration applications: July 2016 to June 2017 (REP 553) provides an overview of ASIC’s activity and oversight in relation to applications for Australian financial services […]
The Government intends to introduce an industry funding model for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), with the model’s Phase 2 Fees-for-service consultation paper released for stakeholder feedback. Under the ASIC Industry Funding Model, from 1 July 2018 fees-for-service will be introduced to recover ASIC regulatory costs that are directly attributable to a single, identifiable, entity. These […]