23 November, 2018
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has extended its licensing relief for foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) who are regulated by the US SEC/CFTC, the UK FCA, the Singapore MAS, the HK SFC, the German BaFin and Luxembourg CSSF. These FFSPs can continue to provide financial services in Australia under the FFSP relief until 30 September 2019. ASIC's relief allows FFSPs to provide financial services to Australian wholesale clients without needing to hold an Australian financial services (AFS) licence in certain circumstances.
The extension of the FFSP licensing relief follows ASIC’s consultation on the new ‘foreign financial services licence’, which is proposed to replace the existing FFSP licensing relief.
Next steps
The FFSP relief has been extended to allow ASIC further time to review the 36 submissions it received on its ‘foreign financial services licence’ proposals and consult further with industry participants over the next few months. The submissions are yet to be made public.
FFSPs relying on any FFSP licensing relief should continue to monitor developments on the proposed ‘foreign financial services licence’ regime.
by Stuart Johnson and Tze Ting Liew of MinterEllison
For further information, please contact:
Scott Carnachan, Consultant, Deacons
scott.carnachan@deacons.com.hk
