Article list

Five reasons ASIC will reject your licence application

ASIC rejects 30% of AFS licence applications and 24% of credit licence applications. In this article, we explain why it rejects applications and give you tips on how to avoid becoming a statistic. In 2017/2018, ASIC approved just 40% of all Australian financial services licence (AFSL) applications and 49% of credit licence applications. Many licence […]

05 Jul 2019

How lenders and brokers should assess credit card costs now

From The Fold Legal

New responsible lending rules have changed the way brokers and lenders should now calculate credit card costs in all lending applications . In the first part of this series, we explained what the new responsible lending rules for credit cards are. These new rules also affect how you should calculate credit card costs in all other loan […]

07 Jun 2019

Can’t get mandatory PI cover? Here’s what to do

From The Fold Legal

Some financial services and credit licence applications are being delayed because licensees simply cannot buy professional indemnity (PI) insurance. We outline what to do if this is happening to you. The Royal Commission has made it more difficult for licensees to get PI insurance The insurance market has hardened following the Royal Commission. This is […]

29 May 2019

New credit card rules affect all lenders and brokers

From The Fold Legal

This is the first post in a two part series on the new responsible lending rules for credit cards. Tighter new rules mean that credit card providers must assess credit card applications more strictly. While not mandatory, other lenders and brokers should apply the same rules to their loan applications. What has changed? In the […]

22 May 2019

TPB ups the ante on privacy consent

From The Fold Legal

Registered tax (financial) advisers have a higher obligation than other financial planners when disclosing information about their clients to third parties. This is because the Tax Practitioners Board’s (TPB) Code of Professional Conduct has more stringent requirements than the Privacy Act. How the TPB and the Privacy Act differ There are three key differences between […]

17 May 2019

Four emerging trends in insurtech

From The Fold Legal

You might think that Australia is behind the rest of the world when it comes to insurtech – but it’s not. After seeing what’s on offer in both Europe and Australia recently, I identified four key insurtech trends. 1. Data is improving insurance products Many incumbent insurers have legacy systems that hold important data. An […]

30 Apr 2019

Royal commission response: Anti-hawking

From The Fold Legal

Currently insurers are not permitted to offer financial products for issue or sale to retail clients in the course of or because of an unsolicited meeting at all, or in the course of a telephone call unless they have met certain requirements. The result is that there is virtually no cold-calling in general insurance because […]

18 Apr 2019

Do responsible managers need ASIC approval?

From The Fold Legal

There is no legal requirement for ASIC to “approve” Responsible Managers (RMs), but that’s exactly what’s happening in practice. It’s now creating problems for licensees and RMs. The letter of the law Under the law, an RM is legally appointed from the date the AFS licensee determines. This appointment then triggers a requirement for the […]

12 Apr 2019

Don’t lose tomorrow’s leaders, lock them in

From The Fold Legal

As the level of M&A activity increases in the financial services industry post Royal Commission, it’s time to put in place incentives so you don’t lose key employees. Many business owners count on key employees being there to take over the reins. But often key employees leave to work for a competitor or start their […]

13 Mar 2019

Vertical (dis)integration – are you conflicted?

From The Fold Legal

Many financial advisers don’t think they have a conflict of interest, but they might be wrong. Thanks to the Royal Commission, everybody is talking about vertical integration and in-house conflicts. We explain what this means and highlight four things you can do to manage conflicts effectively. I’m a financial adviser. Am I conflicted? Probably. Vertically […]

12 Mar 2019