The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced this Thursday that it has canceled the Australian financial services (AFS) license of KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd, a provider of trading technology.

The cancellation of the AFS license of the Sydney-based financial services provider was active from the 22nd of November, 2019, a statement from the Aussie regulator published today said.

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The cancellation of the license follows ASIC, initially suspending the license of KP International Group Australia. This suspension was in effect until the 23rd of September 2020.

“After the suspension commenced, KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd advised ASIC that all relevant officers of the company had resigned and that the company had ceased to carry on a financial services business. In light of this, ASIC has cancelled the company’s AFS licence,” the regulator said.

“Since the suspension of KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd’s AFS licence, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has notified ASIC that it has received multiple complaints from people located offshore regarding a company purporting to be  KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd (refer: AFCA information).”

However, ASIC has highlighted that it is not clear if there is a link between the entity, which is causing the complaints and the formerly licensed Australian entity. The watchdog is currently looking into the issue.

Nonetheless, the Aussie regulator has advised consumers to exercise caution when dealing with any company purporting to offer financial services under the name KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd.

ASIC AFS license applications fall

Is Australia becoming a less attractive destination for financial firms? According to data published by ASIC, applicants for the AFS license for the 2018-2019 period dropped.

As Finance Magnates reported, during the July 2018 to June 2019 period, the total number of AFS and credit license applications was 1,504. This is less than the 1,819 applications submitted in the previous year period by 17.3 percent.