Australia: ASIC Stays True to DDO Enforcement Promises

Nov 16 2022

By Kane Barnett and Bernard Sia

Since 1 October 2021, when the design and distribution obligations (DDO) commenced, ASIC has issued 13 DDO‒related stop orders.

What has non-compliance looked like so far?

ASIC’s first DDO stop order was issued in July 2022 when ASIC identified a target market determination (TMD) that included retail investors for whom the investment would not be appropriate. The other initial interim stop orders related to the failure to prepare a TMD.

Australian Regulatory Update – 7 November 2022

Nov 07 2022

By Jim Bulling and Anabelle Weinberg

1. ASIC Annual Forum

The ASIC Annual Forum was held on 3 – 4 November 2022 with a number of significant announcements being made.

Firstly, ASIC has for the first time announced their enforcement priorities for 2023. ASIC now intends to do this on an annual basis.

Australia: ASIC releases its first insights from the reportable situations regime

Oct 28 2022

By Jim Bulling and Hugo Chow

In ASIC’s first annual report regarding the reportable situations regime, it noted that there were over 8000 reports made to ASIC by financial services and credit licensees under the regime from 1 October 2021 to 30 June 2022.

Australia: Regulatory update – 24 October 2022

Oct 24 2022

By Jim Bulling and Hugo Chow

ASIC’s crackdown on product disclosures continues

To date, ASIC has issued 11 design and distribution obligations stop orders, with the first stop orders being issued in July this year.

The latest interim stop order prevent a fund management firm (the Firm) from offering or distributing three funds (the Funds) to retail investors due to the Firm not having compliant target market determinations (TMDs).

Australia: Regulatory update – 17 October 2022

Oct 17 2022

By Jim Bulling and Hugo Chow

ASFI releases its first report on the Australian sustainable finance taxonomy

The Australia Sustainability Finance Institute (ASFI) is working closely with the government and regulators to develop an Australian sustainable finance taxonomy.

The Report outlines the key considerations that will inform the development of an Australian sustainable finance taxonomy that will consist of credible, science-based definitions.

Australia: Regulatory update – 10 October 2022

Oct 10 2022

By Jim Bulling and Hugo Chow

ASIC sues Latitude Finance Australia and Harvey Norman Holdings for allegedly misleading interest free advertising

ASIC is suing Latitude Finance Australia (Latitude) and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (Harvey Norman) over the promotion of interest-free payment methods.

ASIC alleges that advertisements which included “no deposit”, “interest free” payment options over specified terms for purchases at Harvey Norman were misleading as they did not disclose that consumers could only use these payment options if they applied for and used a Latitude GO Mastercard, and that Harvey Norman misrepresented the actual costs of these payment options as they did not adequately disclose the establishment fees and monthly account fees.

Australia: New Greenwashing Guidance

Jun 16 2022

By 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.

Australia: Cybersecurity now a legal obligation for AFS Licensees

Jun 09 2022

By 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.

Australia: What do changes to Unfair Contract Terms (UCT) laws in Australia mean for financial services?

Feb 16 2022

By: Jim Bulling

Expanding both the scope of the UCT regime and regulator enforcement powers

On Wednesday 9 February 2022 a bill was introduced to Parliament which seeks to amend the Australian Consumer Law and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act (ASIC Act) to extend the Unfair Contract Terms Regime (UCT Regime).

Section 12BF of the ASIC Act currently prohibits unfair terms in standard form consumer and small business contracts as they relate to financial products and financial services.

Under the proposed changes, the UCT regime for small businesses under the ASIC Act will apply where the upfront price of the standard form contract (price threshold) does not exceed AU$5 million and one party to the contract is a business that either employs fewer than 100 people (employee threshold) or has an annual turnover of less than AU$10 million. These changes substantially expand the current law where the price threshold is AU$300,000 (or AU$1 million in a multiyear contract) and the employee threshold is 20 people. As such, the changes are likely to cause the UCT regime to apply to many more financial services business to business contracts.

Australia: A (new) Reason to Invest in Aussie Funds

Feb 11 2022

By: Jim Bulling and Cathy Ma

Legislation Passes Parliament

The Australian Federal Government passed the long-awaited Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle Framework and Other Measures Bill 2021 on 10 February 2022. The new regulatory and tax framework for Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles (CCIV) will commence on 1 July 2022.

This reform is a welcome step forward for the Australian funds management industry and is aimed at increasing the competitiveness and familiarity of Australian investment offerings to offshore investors.

Tag:ASIC

1. ASIC Annual Forum