12 MONTHS REPRIEVE FOR FOREIGN FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVIDERS USING AFSL EXEMPTIONS

02 August, 2022
Today the Australian corporate regulator, ASIC, announced an extension of 12 months for the transitional arrangements for the passporting exemptions and limited connection exemption, which will now expire on 31 March 2024. BACKGROUND The passporting exemptions and limited connection exemption from the need to hold an Australian financial services licence (AFSL) that have been used … Read more

FFSP AFSL exemption uncertainty continues

23 May, 2022
The Australian federal election was held on 21 May 2022 and has resulted in a change of government. The previous government had introduced a bill into Parliament to implement the foreign financial service provider (FFSP) exemptions to the requirement to hold an Australian financial services licence (AFSL) and that bill had lapsed on the dissolution … Read more

FFSP AFSL EXEMPTION UNCERTAINTY RETURNS

11 April, 2022
The bill to implement the foreign financial service provider (FFSP) exemptions to the requirement to hold an Australian financial services licence (AFSL) has lapsed on the dissolution of Parliament following the calling of the federal election yesterday. For more information on the final form of the bill (the Treasury Laws Amendment (Streamlining and Improving Economic Outcomes … Read more

Exposure draft legislation released for new FFSP AFSL exemptions

10 January, 2022
The eagerly awaited detail of the proposed new foreign financial service provider (FFSP) exemptions from the need to hold an Australian financial services licence (AFSL) was released on 20 December 2021. Earlier in 2021, Treasury consulted on restoring the ‘previously well-established regulatory exemptions’, and to create a fast-track licensing process for FFSPs wishing to establish … Read more

FSR Outlook 2022: Anticipating Change, Being Prepared

14 December, 2021
Our Financial Services Regulatory team surveys the regulatory landscape for 2022 and identifies themes that we expect to be at the core of regulatory priorities globally over the next 12 months.  On 7 December 2021, HSF published its annual Financial Services Regulatory Outlook report surveying the global regulatory landscape for 2022 which addressed the following … Read more

FSR GPS: ‘BECOMING AWARE’ OF A SIGNIFICANT DEALING UNDER DDO

02 August, 2021
This edition of our ‘FSR GPS’ (Guidelines, Principles and Strategies) series provides some insights on the requirement to report significant dealings to ASIC under the upcoming DDO regime, which is due to come into effect on 5 October 2021. Under the DDO regime, a product issuer has an obligation to report a ‘significant dealing’ to … Read more

Awareness about Fairness: Fair Dealing between Multiple Classes of Beneficiaries in the Superannuation Context

14 October, 2020
Introduction Section 52(2) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act) contains two statutory covenants of a registrable superannuation entity (RSE) that concern fairness, namely: “to act fairly in dealing with classes of beneficiaries within the entity” (sub-section (e)); and “to act fairly in dealing with beneficiaries within a class” (sub-section (f)). This … Read more