Regulation/Reform

ASIC is consulting on proposals to refine and update ASIC’s regulatory guidance on the licensing regime for financial markets. Consultation Paper 293 Revising the market licence regime for domestic and overseas operators (CP 293) proposes introducing a two-tiered market licence regime, based on a risk-based assessment. The second tier of licence will be able to facilitate a […]

ASIC visited twenty limited Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees during 2016 – 2017 to assess how they were operating under their new licences and to discuss and promote compliance with their AFS licensee obligations. This program followed the removal from 1 July 2016 of the exemption from holding an AFS licence that accountants previously relied […]

ASIC is concerned that some accountants may be harming retail investors by inappropriately providing ‘sophisticated investor’ certificates. In general, companies raising money by offering shares to retail investors must give the investors sufficient information by providing a prospectus or other regulated disclosure document. This helps investors in making a decision whether to invest in the […]

ASIC has extended Class Order [CO 12/749] Relief from the Shorter PDS regime for one year. The class order relief was due to expire on 30 June 2017. The class order provides interim relief, until 30 June 2018, to exclude multifunds, superannuation platforms and hedge funds from the disclosure requirements of the shorter Product Disclosure […]