Australia's
corporate watchdog wants to keep two pieces of AFS license relief on the books
for another five years, with feedback from the industry due by the start of
June.
Singapore Summit: Meet the largest
APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)
The
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said today (Tuesday) it
is consulting on remaking two legislative instruments due to expire on October
1, 2026. Both touch the AFS licensing regime that underpins Australia's CFD
industry, and both have been in place since 2016.
The Two Instruments at
Glance
The first
gives general-advice providers a break from AFS licensing rules when their
advice appears in specific documents, mainly explanatory statements for foreign
schemes of arrangement and offer documents tied to overseas control
transactions.
The second
exempts issuers and advisers from having to spell out certain figures in
Australian dollars on standard disclosure paperwork.
ASIC said
the proposed changes are minor and technical, focused on cleaning up the
wording rather than reshaping the substance. The carve-outs would roll forward
through 2031.
Discretionary Mutual Funds
Get Pulled In
The one bit
of new ground is around discretionary mutual funds, the not-for-profit
risk-sharing structures used by community groups, churches and some industry
associations. ASIC
ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the
Read this Term wants the dollar disclosure exemption to cover risk products
issued through these funds, which currently sit outside the relief.
It's a
narrow expansion, and the agency frames it as a consistency fix rather than a
policy shift. Nothing in the proposal changes who can give general advice
without an AFS license or which overseas documents qualify.
ASIC has taken a tougher line on adjacent
reliefs,
reassessing investment introduction service relief last year after low industry
use.
A Crowded Regulatory Inbox
for AFS Holders
The
proposal is administrative, but it lands in the middle of one of the heaviest
regulatory years AFS license holders have faced. Brokers, fund managers and
advisers under the regime are juggling deadlines that have nothing to do with
consultation paper CS 51.
The most
pressing is ASIC's no-action position for unlicensed digital asset providers,
which expires on June 30, 2026. Crypto firms that miss the cutoff
face civil and criminal penalties of up to 10% of annual turnover, and they
will be slotting into the same AFS framework being tinkered with in the current
consultation.
ASIC
reminded those firms only days ago that they have under two months left.
Running
alongside that, adviser qualification standards introduced on January 1 are still
rippling through the industry, with ASIC running compliance
Compliance
In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a
In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a
Read this Term checks against the
Financial Advisers Register.
The
regulator has also flagged financial reporting misconduct as a top 2026 enforcement priority
and earlier proposed easing breach reporting for minor errors fixed inside 30
days.
The
licensing pipeline itself has tightened. ASIC granted 290 new AFS licenses in
fiscal 2025 while canceling or suspending another 215, and an enforcement
campaign produced a record A$583 million in penalties in the second half of
2025.
Submissions Close June 1
Feedback on
the proposal can be lodged with ASIC's consultation team until 5pm AEST on June
1.
The
document is consultation paper CS 51, "Proposed remake of relief from
dollar disclosure reporting and AFS licensing requirements for general advice
in certain exempt documents."
If the
regulator goes ahead, the new instruments would replace the existing ones
before the October 1 sunset and run for another five years, taking the regime
through to 2031.
Australia's
corporate watchdog wants to keep two pieces of AFS license relief on the books
for another five years, with feedback from the industry due by the start of
June.
Singapore Summit: Meet the largest
APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)
The
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said today (Tuesday) it
is consulting on remaking two legislative instruments due to expire on October
1, 2026. Both touch the AFS licensing regime that underpins Australia's CFD
industry, and both have been in place since 2016.
The Two Instruments at
Glance
The first
gives general-advice providers a break from AFS licensing rules when their
advice appears in specific documents, mainly explanatory statements for foreign
schemes of arrangement and offer documents tied to overseas control
transactions.
The second
exempts issuers and advisers from having to spell out certain figures in
Australian dollars on standard disclosure paperwork.
ASIC said
the proposed changes are minor and technical, focused on cleaning up the
wording rather than reshaping the substance. The carve-outs would roll forward
through 2031.
Discretionary Mutual Funds
Get Pulled In
The one bit
of new ground is around discretionary mutual funds, the not-for-profit
risk-sharing structures used by community groups, churches and some industry
associations. ASIC
ASIC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the
Read this Term wants the dollar disclosure exemption to cover risk products
issued through these funds, which currently sit outside the relief.
It's a
narrow expansion, and the agency frames it as a consistency fix rather than a
policy shift. Nothing in the proposal changes who can give general advice
without an AFS license or which overseas documents qualify.
ASIC has taken a tougher line on adjacent
reliefs,
reassessing investment introduction service relief last year after low industry
use.
A Crowded Regulatory Inbox
for AFS Holders
The
proposal is administrative, but it lands in the middle of one of the heaviest
regulatory years AFS license holders have faced. Brokers, fund managers and
advisers under the regime are juggling deadlines that have nothing to do with
consultation paper CS 51.
The most
pressing is ASIC's no-action position for unlicensed digital asset providers,
which expires on June 30, 2026. Crypto firms that miss the cutoff
face civil and criminal penalties of up to 10% of annual turnover, and they
will be slotting into the same AFS framework being tinkered with in the current
consultation.
ASIC
reminded those firms only days ago that they have under two months left.
Running
alongside that, adviser qualification standards introduced on January 1 are still
rippling through the industry, with ASIC running compliance
Compliance
In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a
In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a
Read this Term checks against the
Financial Advisers Register.
The
regulator has also flagged financial reporting misconduct as a top 2026 enforcement priority
and earlier proposed easing breach reporting for minor errors fixed inside 30
days.
The
licensing pipeline itself has tightened. ASIC granted 290 new AFS licenses in
fiscal 2025 while canceling or suspending another 215, and an enforcement
campaign produced a record A$583 million in penalties in the second half of
2025.
Submissions Close June 1
Feedback on
the proposal can be lodged with ASIC's consultation team until 5pm AEST on June
1.
The
document is consultation paper CS 51, "Proposed remake of relief from
dollar disclosure reporting and AFS licensing requirements for general advice
in certain exempt documents."
If the
regulator goes ahead, the new instruments would replace the existing ones
before the October 1 sunset and run for another five years, taking the regime
through to 2031.
