Australian Financial Services Licence

Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) is a license that is required to be held by Australian businesses involved in the provision of financial services. An AFSL can be issued to an individual, to a director or employee of an AFSL holder, or an authorised representative of a person who holds an AFSL.[1] Some wholesale Charitable Investment Fundraisers can be exempt from these licensing requirements.

AFSLs are issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under section 911A of the Corporations Act 2001,[2][3] as part of its role as regulator of the financial services industry.

Requirement for an AFSL

An AFSL is required for a business that:

  • provides financial product advice to clients
  • deals in a financial product
  • makes a market for a financial product
  • operates a registered scheme
  • provides a custodial or depository service, or
  • provides traditional trustee company services.

The term "financial product" is defined very broadly and covers facilities through which a person makes a financial investment, manages financial risk or makes non-cash payments. There are also a number of financial products that are currently not regulated as "financial products" such as many credit facilities.

The licensing provisions have extraterritorial effect and capture regulated financial services activities conducted outside Australia, which are intended to or likely to have the effect of including persons in Australia to use those services.

The Corporations Act distinguishes between the provision of products and services to retail clients and wholesale clients. There are extensive disclosure requirements when financial services are provided to retail clients.

References

  1. ↑ "AFS Licensing". Australian Securities & Investment Commission. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 911A: Need for an Australian financial services licence
  3. ↑ "Companies you should not deal with". www.moneysmart.gov.au. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.