By Daniel Knight and Alex Morrison
The Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has said that the Government intends to regulate Buy Now Pay Later Products (BNPL Products) and stop the “argument about whether [they’re] credit or not”.
Read MoreBy Kane Barnett and Bernard Sia
ASIC has published Information Sheet 272 (INFO 272) and Report 728 (REP 728) on the eve of the corporate collective investment vehicle’s (CCIV) commencement.
With the commencement date for CCIVs being 1 July 2022, today ASIC released 7 regulatory guides relating to the registration and licensing requirements for CCIVs. We outline the key features of CCIVs in our previous update. INFO 272 provides much needed clarity on how both the CCIV itself and its initial sub-funds are to be registered.
Read MoreBy Jim Bulling and Alex Morrison
ASIC has released Information Sheet 271 (INFO 271) to assist responsible entities of managed funds, corporate directors of CCIVs and trustees of registerable superannuation funds (Product Issuers) in avoiding ‘greenwashing’ when offering sustainability-related products (Products). INFO 271 describes greenwashing and provides a comprehensive overview of the current regulatory setting for communications about sustainability–related products.
Read MoreBy Kane Barnett and Bernard Sia
As technology continues to drive change within the financial services industry, Australian courts and regulators have confirmed the need for Australian financial services (AFS) licensees to address the cybersecurity risks. On 5 May 2022, the Australian Federal Court ruled in favour of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), holding that AFS licensee RI Advice Group Pty Ltd (RI Advice) had breached its statutory obligations by failing to have adequate cybersecurity measures in place.
Read MoreBy Jim Bulling
In February this year we provided an update on the introduction of the draft legislation providing relief to Foreign Financial Services Providers (FFSPs) in Australia.
As we discussed back in February the draft legislative pack provided three significant potential exemptions for FFSPs namely:
By Jim Bulling and Kithmin Ranamukhaarachchi
A Federal election in Australia was held at the weekend which resulted in a change of Government. One of the signature priorities of the incoming Government is to introduce policies which more comprehensively address climate change challenges.
Read MoreBy Kane Barnett
On 1 July 2022 Australia will finally get a new fund vehicle, the corporate collective investment vehicle (CCIV).
Historically, Australian funds have been established as unit trusts or, in the case of certain venture capital funds, limited partnerships. The CCIV is a corporate structure that is intended to be more internationally recognisable than the trust-based fund structure as it is similar to the equivalent structure in other key fund jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Cayman Islands, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Read MoreBy: Jim Bulling and Kithmin Ranamukhaarachchi
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, global economic sanctions have evolved into a complex web of restrictions and prohibitions with limited exceptions. As a result, asset managers have more layers of regulation to navigate in relation to current holdings and future investments in virtually all markets directly or indirectly connected to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine (Region).
Read MoreBy: Jim Bulling and Alex Morrison
The Australian Government has now released the terms of reference for the Quality of Advice Review. The review follows recommendations made by the Hayne Royal Commission. The objective of the review is to ensure Australians have access to high quality, affordable and accessible financial advice. The review will consider both regulatory and legislative frameworks, consent arrangements for retail and wholesale clients, actions of ASIC and the role of financial services entities and professional associations.
Read MoreBy: Jim Bulling and Felix Charlesworth
FFSP regime finally announced – good news for offshore managers
On 17 February 2022, the Government introduced the final version of the Foreign Financial Service Provider (FFSP) regulatory regime into Parliament.
The new laws outline three ways in which FFSPs will either be exempt from the requirement to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), or be able to fast track the licencing process. These exemptions will commence on 1 April 2023, to coincide with the expiry of the transitional relief.
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