Regulatory Updates

ASIC released its annual licensing report: Report 772 Licensing and professional registration activities: 2023 update . The Report is released …

ASIC has called on licensees to ensure that they remediate affected customers quickly and fairly, in line with ASIC’s guidance …

The ASIC Corporations, Credit and Superannuation (Amendment and Repeal) Instrument 2023/699 was registered on 27 September 2023. It makes amendments …

ASIC’s recent and impending housekeeping will have implications for CCIVs, RSE licensees and credit licensees.

ASIC has announced that between …

ASIC has announced that between October and December 2023, it will update a number of Regulatory Guides.

They are:

• Regulatory …

Privacy reforms are a step closer after the OAIC announced that the Government has released its response to the Privacy …

The Government’s long-running scheme to simplify the financial services laws just inched forward, with some changes that may make the …

AFCA has released its 2022-23 Annual Review. The review reveals that between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2022, …

AFCA continues to receive a large number of complaints, with more than 9,400 complaints lodged in August 2023. The number …

ASIC announced that it and APRA have published an information package to support the financial services industry in implementing the …

ASIC has released ASIC Annual Report 2022-2023. The Report sets out ASIC’s achievements during 2022-23, including:

• taking steps towards …

Licensees can take advantage of tips issued by the ACSC during Cyber Security Awareness Month in October. The ACSC’s theme …

Two pieces of Treasury consultation, which have been open in October, are of significance to the financial services industry. Even …

Changes to the unfair contract terms regime take effect from 9 November 2023.

Previously, the inclusion of an unfair term …

AFS and credit licensees will need to update their reportable situation processes following modifications to the regime by ASIC in …

The burden of notifying ASIC of reportable situations has been reduced after ASIC released an Instrument modifying the regime.

Under …

Crypto exchanges and digital asset platforms will need to obtain an Australian financial services licence and abide by existing financial …

There is no express obligation for a financial services provider to monitor its client lists for deregistered companies. However, the …

Draft AML/CTF Rules amending Chapter 10 of the Rules. These draft Rules, released by AUSTRAC, repeal Part 10.4 of …

ASIC amends the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Clearing) 2015

On 18 September 2023, ASIC registered the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules …

FATF has updated its consolidated list of ML/TF country assessment ratings.  This list assesses the effectiveness and technical compliance of …

The second global roundtable in FATF-INTERPOL’s joint initiative to improve global asset recovery and combat financial crime was recently held, …

On 30 August 2023, the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP gave a key address to the National Integrity Summit about …

The AML/CTF Act has been amended following the passing of the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Act 2023. …

The Federal Court has found that Ferratum Australia Pty Ltd (in liquidation) charged prohibited fees and overcharged customers on small …

ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Westpac Banking Corporation. ASIC alleges that flaws in Westpac’s …

The Government has registered a new instrument the National Consumer Credit Protection (Large ADI) Determination 2023 (Instrument) which sets out …

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 3) Bill 2023 has passed both houses of Parliament and received Royal Assent. …

The Financial Services and Credit Panel has reported that two relevant providers failed to comply with a number of obligations …

ASIC has released REP 770 Design and distribution obligations: Retail OTC derivatives, which sets out the results of ASIC’s recent …

The legislative framework for the FAR – the Financial Accountability Regime (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023 and Financial Accountability Regime Bill …

ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings against the trustee of AustralianSuper. ASIC alleged that AustralianSuper failed to have adequate policies …

In March, ASIC sought consultation on Class Order [CO 13/656] Equality of treatment impacting on the acquisition of interests, which …

In June, ASIC sought consultation on proposals to remake managed investment scheme unit pricing class orders that are due to …

ASIC has remade the following Class Orders dealing with investor directed portfolio services:

• ASIC Class Order [CO 13/762] Investor directed …

ASIC has remade the following Class Orders dealing with financial resources requirements for responsible entities and operators of IDPs, custodial …

New ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2023/706 extends the operation of Corporations (Design and Distribution Obligations Interim Measures) Instrument 2021/784 until …

ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Bit Trade Pty Ltd, provider of the Kraken crypto …

ASIC has commenced proceedings against PayPal Australia Pty Limited, alleging that its contracts with small business customers contain an unfair …

The Government has announced that it is stopping the Modernising Business Registers Program. The Government made its decision in response …

The OAIC has released its latest notifiable data breaches report: Notifiable Data Breaches Report: January to June 2023. The …

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released a new publication: How the ACSC can help during a cyber security …

ASIC Chair, Mr Joe Longo, gave a speech on 18 September at the Australian Financial Review Cyber Summit on cyber-preparedness. …

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee has released its Report on the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023. The Bill …

AFCA has announced that its new member portal will launch in March 2024. It intends to make training resources in …

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Modernising Business Communications and Other Measures) Bill 2023) has become law, and is designed to modernise …

ASIC has today released Report 770: Design and distribution obligations: Retail OTC derivatives. The report sets out ASIC’s findings …

The Financial Accountability Regime Bill 2023 and the Financial Accountability Regime (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2023 finally passed both Houses of …

In a recent survey conducted by Holley Nethercote, 50% of Australian financial services licensees said they don’t have any conflicts …

FATF has published a targeted update on the implementation of FATF Standards on virtual assets and virtual asset providers.

Since …